House Rules | ecc-dark-seattle

GAMEPLAY: PERMUTATIONS: HOUSE RULES

The vast majority of the rules we intend to use can be read in the V20 core book. There are a couple of other books we use as well for V20, as seen in The Becoming under Books & Boundaries, most notably the V20 Companion & Lore of the Clans.

WHY HOUSE RULES EXIST

They're common sense additions that aren't covered elsewhere related to general play style (don't play your dead character's Sire, fade to black if people get uncomfortable with darker content, site rules, etc.).
They clarify 'storyteller discretion' for a specific case where storyteller discretion is called for in the core rules. We'd rather share a standard, agreed-upon call with you for consistancy and transparency.
They are a specific attempt to balance, limit (or completely exclude) a mechanic for a Camarilla Modern Nights LARP as opposed to a Sabbat-oriented LARP or a tabletop game, etc. We don't want to run a larp with 50 Gargoyle Toreador Clan infiltrators who all have the Enchanting Voice Merit, all with Infernal Sorcery, for example.

WHEN WE WON'T MAKE A HOUSE RULE

When the Storytellers are alerted to an individual player is using a or group of powers over and over and over to 'troll' another character. We'll just kindly ask the player trolling the other PC to stop 'button mashing'. If they refuse, we'll enact disciplinary action as related to the game charter's code of conduct. We don't anticipate this one much at all, if ever.

A percieved exploit is sometimes found where a power doesn't specifically exclude a secondary effect. No power or ability in the game has a secondary effect that is not directly written. This also covers 'Voltroning' of powers, merits or other abilities or 'stacking' powers or bonuses. By default, powers and bonuses will not stack in our game, both for fairness sake to the game at large, and to avoid rules bloat. (SEE Like bonuses below)
Just for kicks. Nobody wants a ton of custom rules. The core-book for V20 alone is 500+ pages long, and that's plenty. Adding rules must address a specific gap in the rules or maybe a call that comes up a lot. If at all possible, we'll stick with the V20 rules by-the-book, and we humbly beg you to agree.

EXAMPLE (ACTUAL) HOUSE RULE

Like Bonuses Don't Stack. Unlike Things May:

Bonuses are 'typed' - for example if you have two Merits that both add dice or reduce diff towards rolls, the highest one is the only one that applies. Example, if you have Friendly Face (1 point Merit reduces -1 difficulty to social rolls) and Enchanting Voice (2 point merit lowers social rolls -2 diff) then only Enchanted Voice will apply. However if you have a way to lower social diffs via Disciplines or a Background, each of those is it's individual type and that's ok.

Type Categories:, Backgrounds, Disciplines, Merits & Flaws etc...

The Rules of (our) LARP Common sense rules associated with playing in a LARP in general and specific ones to our game.	Attributes & Abilities Errata Attributes and Abilities that have some notes about their use, like Crafts.	Backgrounds Errata Some Background tweaks for a LARP setting.
Clan Related Errata Unique Clan backgrounds or abilities clarifications, often from the Lore of the Clans book.	Discipline Errata Disciplines for LARP tweaks, methods for learning combo-disciplines, & rituals.	Merits & Flaws Errata Merit & Flaw limits here. This is also where to learn about how Lores work.
Perk Cards Rules for gaining and using Perk Cards.