Venue Style sheet

1. 1. Basic Information

1. VSS Name: Tales of Magick: The Wheel Turns
2. Domain: New York (LWoD)
3. Game Coordinates (Latitude, Longitude): 40.7127° N, 74.0059° W
4. VSS Physical Boundaries: Downstate New York.
5. VST: Heather
6. Other VST: Shan

* Style of Play (rate 1-5 each 1 means barely brought up, 5 means every day involvement.)

1. Domestic Focus: 5 -- New York is a big city, downstate new york is a huge place. almost all of the action will take place there.
2. Scale of Stories: 1 (Street Level) primarily, but all the way up to 5 (Cosmic Level) for some plots. Most likely hovering around Street level or slightly above.
3. Enigmas: 5 (Mysteries, everywhere!)
4. Graphicness: 4 -- Rule 14 is active, but the game does have a few black dog scenes
5. Tragedy:3 -- Dark things happen in this world, but Hope Springs eternal.
6. Risk: 4 -- ST’s aren’t trying to kill you, but this world is deadly.
7. Focus: 3 -- PvE Heavy, PvP Social: PCs will occasionally clash socially only.

Players that wish to duel or battle each other as they figure out what they can do both OOCly and ICly can be given the opportunity to do so.

* Venue Synopsis

1. Basic Description: The worlds have rejoined. fates reconnected. magic and it’s consequences flood back into the Big Apple. Mages reawaken in this world, changed, reborn, resurrected. Hope returns.
2. Focused Realm:  Mortal World, with trips into the other worlds.
3. Brief History: The History of Mages in New York is long and storied, but the slate has been wiped clean. In this new, old new york, the stakes are higher, the shadows deeper.

* Character Restrictions

1. Tradition/Disparates only (For the beginning of the game)

* Venue Specific Notes (leave this in for every VSS for the first couple parts)

1. The Player must provide the ST access to the materials related to their character sheet – books, rules, etc. if the ST does not have access to them on their own.
2. Powers do not always quite work as they should – the VST has ultimate authority in the case of rules calls. Remember that the VST may not have every access to every book to help in cross-venue madness. They are given the benefit of the doubt by the ST chain in most cases.

* Exp Awards

1. 12xp per month

* Future Fates -- (House Rules; note, many of these will need full write ups later ~H)

The Ascension War:

* The Technocracy’s victory party was premature: Sure, the Union got the upper hand, but the Traditions and Disparates have survived worse. Hubris leads most Technocrats to consider the fight more or less over… and to miss the Nephandic leadership now governing their every move. The Masses surprise everyone with their combination of self-indulgence, fanaticism, and hope for a better tomorrow. The Traditions rally once again, and the Disparates band together to take back their world. Loyal Technocrats who’ve discovered the Inner Circle’s corruption stage a shadow-war within the Union, possibly allying with Tradition and Disparate sects in an effort to rescue the ideals of science from Nephandic infiltration. At the moment, though, the Fallen are winning what’s left of the Ascension War. It’s like WWII all over again, with even higher stakes

Doissetep:

* The fabled stronghold survived, if only as a ruin. Players may be able to access it, and potentially the remaining treasures and knowledge held within, if they survive. Whether they know it’s a ruin, or think it’s still a stronghold of magic and research depends on whom they believe.

The Great Betrayer:

* He wasn’t what he said he was: Sure, he gets called The Great Betrayer. He is the reason why Doissetep fell. The truth is far less sinister than the rumors of a crazy alchemist reborn, or some great Ascension Warrior fighting to bring down the Traditions.

The Technocratic Paradigm:

* Reality Zones in Effect/Reality is in Flux.

The New Millennium:

* Needs to be in consensus with the other venues. Unless there is no consensus, then we do whatever we please.

Chantries and Horizon Realms:

* Nothing has Changed seems the most viable option. Not that this means every chantry can or will have a horizon realm attached.

The Reckoning, The Gauntlet and The Avatar Storm:

* As it stands (unless it’s changed) the Avatar storm is a thing that pops up from time to time that can be brought in for plot reasons, but doesn’t need to be worried about for the most part. Reckoning would only be in effect in places it has been, including possibly Doissetep.

Cell Phones and the Internet:

* Our story takes place in the 21st century with cell phones and internet technology.

The Horizon War, Doissetep and the Storm:

All of this happened. but was so long ago that it feels like history. unless your character is in their 30’s or older and was a mage 10 years ago, they probably did not take part in the Horizon war, or the fall of Doissetep.

1. Optional Rules (House Rules Part II)

Night Folk Counter-Spelling: Diff 7 with the appropriate lores (1-3) Diff 6 (4-5), cannot counter without the lores.

* Night-Folk can use the equivalent of basic countermagick. Instead of Arete, such entities use their Wits + Occult as a dice pool. However, that dice pool cannot exceed the Gnosis or Rage (whichever is higher, for werecreatures), Willpower (vampires, spirits, wraiths, demons, hunters, and hedge wizards), Glamour (changelings and other fae), Mystic Shield (Bygones), or True Faith (faithful humans) Trait of the Night-Folk character. Essentially, those Traits reflect the metaphysical capacity of the target character. If a werewolf, for instance, has a Wits + Occult dice pool of six but a Gnosis of 4 and a Rage of 3, then she cannot use more than four dice as countermagick. If the targeted creature does not have a Wits + Occult dice pool, then the Storyteller may rule that the character cannot resist True Magick – see Optional Limits, below. That said, a mage needs certain Spheres in order to harm a member of the Night-Folk. As shown on the Common Magickal Effects chart (p. 508), Life Sphere magick alone cannot affect vampires, werebeasts, ghosts, spirits, or the fae.

Difficulties and Limits

On a related note, the Night-Folk cannot counter immediate-damage attacks like plasma bolts or Enlightened martial arts, nor can they oppose indirect assaults like weakened floors, fire, typhoons, and so forth. The only way to counter a mage’s attack is to recognize it as a mystic assault. Thaumaturgical counterspells won’t prevent a Virtual Adept from using Enlightened hypertech to hack the vampire prince’s bank account.