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HOUSE RULES
PERCEPTION. The door swings both ways. Mages with their level one senses open, Vampires and Undying using heightened senses, or any form of Scrying, scanning or probing can be dangerous. Sensitives are prone to backlash created by some creatures/effects. Just look a the Time of thin Blood to see what Ravanna did to all the sensitives during the Week of nightmares. Or what Happened to both Christoph and Minito when they tried to directly link their minds with the Book on Sunday night. I won't be cruel, but sometimes you run the risk of opening yourselves to something you cannot handle. Here's a quick hint, taking the most extreme case as usual. If you try and open yourself to say, the Melcom board of Directors it will be the last Post you ever make for that Character.
CAITIFF. OK there’s an important rule in the Spikeyverse about Caitiff and that is, there is no such thing Out Of Character as a Caitiff. Caitiff Characters may not know there Clan, but you as a Player and I as a Storyteller always will do. It’s a state of In Character awareness and that’s all. So if you want to play a caitiff, and I’m more than happy for you to do so, then create a normal Vampire Character with a Clan (not pander) and provide me with a reasonable excuse for her lack of knowledge. Now as all vampires posses a Clan/Bloodline flaw, many lines simply cannot produce Caitiff. Nosferatu, Ventrue, Lasombra, Samedi, Salubri, Harbingers of Skulls and Nagaraja can NOT be caitiff because their blood borne weaknesses are immediately evident. Gangrel caitiff soon learn their Clan after a few frenzies so if your character hails from that Clan, he will have to be very new to Undeath and it won’t be long until she learns the truth. Tzimisce caitiff will rarely be worth playing as they will constantly have a maximum dice pool of one until they discover their Clan flaw and then, no more ignorance of Clan.
DEAD MEN AND BLOOD VESSELS. I dont hold with the canon theory on Vampires being decayed and shrivelled inside. With the exception of a few hideous clans, consider the Vampires body to be in exactly the state it was in at the point of death for eternity. As good old Dr Netchurch (see Time of Thin Blood) believes, the blood of Lilith holds the Vampire on the brink of the abyss and not after it has fallen. The Vampire powers his disciplines and body by forcing his blood around his body with his heart. That is why staking cripples him. A Vampire using a discipline may be detected by the VERY perceptive as the heart beats gently a few times. The stomach is still intact, if usually useless. It will convulse and eject food if eaten unless the Vampire has learnt not to (the Masquerade Skill). Vampires without this special ability can not drink or eat! The lungs dont need to work, as the blood is now magical and does not need to be oxygenated. However should a Vampire wish to exhale to aid the Masquerade or to inhale smoke, she may. Drugs and chemicals that effect the blood continue to do so. This means a Vampire may snort Cocaine or smoke crack and get some effect. She may become light headed if drinking the blood of someone heavily under the effect of alcohol or other narcotics. Blood with strong emotional resonance may also be tasted. This leads to some sexual vampires, or those who enjoy frightening their prey half to death before feeding. In the end, its all in the name of story so use it to enhance our story and enjoy Spikey's little quirks as a different view of the Vampires unlife.
SEX AND THE DEAD. In direct contrast to the White wolf canon, Vampires in MY game can engage in Sex, fall in love and experience all the Romantic journeys that makes them part of our collective sunconscious. I feel Vampires are an erotic and romantic notion and do not like taking this away from them in a roleplaying game. I put a warning on the front page about adult content, and I feel thats enough. I will be telling stories with adult themes. Drugs, prostition, foul language, Love, Sex, torture, murder, rape. The World of Darkness thrives on this. If you choose to include a sexual theme in your stories, that is up to you. You wont be slapped on the wrist from me, you won't upset my players. Use your discretion and make it fit. Femme fatal's use sex as a weapon, Lovers use it to extent thier emotional bond, brutes use rape as a form of domination. Tell as much or as little as you like.
Paradox rules for PbEM
Any time a Mages Paradox is higher than his Arête, they are risking a Paradox backlash. Anytime they push their luck (use quintessence, atempts to effect reality) they will suffer the effects of Paradox unless they spend a point of temporary willpower. This state exists until they bleed it back to equal to or lower than their Arête. Paradox backlashes include Direct bodily Damage, Quiet realms, Paradox spirits, or worse...
In certain circumstances, such as when the Mage is free from the debilitating effects of consensual reality, a positive modifier might effect this total. Similarly, a negative modifier may well apply if a large amount of sleepers are witness to the event.
Paradox can be bled off by gaining a Paradox flaw. This produces some interesting story possibilities in the PbEM medium. 1 point of Paradox is a minor flaw that lasts a few hours, 2 a moderate one that lasts about half a day, 3 a nasty one that lasts up to 48 hours, 4 or more are painful and usually permanent. For example, the Mage Panic has two 4 point permanent Paradox flaws; shifting eyes and his bioluminescent skin.
A Mage can also spend a temporary willpower point to eliminate Paradox from a Vulgar effect that he is casting. This will not work if the effect is witnessed by sleepers..
WRAITHS. Wraiths can be seen by other supernaturals for a scene if they wish. For the sake of interaction, at the cost of 1 pathos/Corpus/angst. They will appear as a mortal (unless a character has a way of telling it’s a wraith). I don’t have the time or the inclination to explore the wraiths dislocation from the living world. But past regrets etc can be done as heavy as you like. Just remember I only have the 1st edition Wraith core book so any other guilds, thorns, powers etc will have to be included in the character sheets if you want me to ok it and I reserve the right to say yeah or nay. I’ll try to be flexible as possible.
FAITH. Faith is an effect of the MIND. It is when someone with latent power believes in something amazing enough to effect the real world. His faith can create Gods and Goddess' from nothing, keep those he views as evil at bay and even heal. All of this is the higest form of HUMAN possibility. Even though it acts the same as in the Rule Books, when it comes to it, its the Human Mind that generates the Faith and not some interventionist power. It is sensed with the Mind sphere and can be effected by those powers that effect the mind, however difficult that actually is to achieve. Also the powers and effects of Faith will alter depending on the Faith in question. A crucifix will only focus power for a Christian, but such Characters will have no warding abilities against Elohim. The chances of me allowing a player character to have even a single dot of faith are somewhat less likely than the chances of me getting head from the Pope however.
