A copy of the V20 Core Rulebook is available at all games. Please ask as ST.
This is a trigger warning for rules regarding themes of SA at the bottom of this page.
In – Character Chats
If an ST has not been included in or informed of an in character chat and its contents, it has not taken place in GV canon and any claims made of its contents such as boons exchanged, powers used, knowledge shared, items given etc… has not taken place.
Agreement must be given by both parties to the chat of it’s existence.
Please refer to the IN CHARACTER CHATS section of the handbook as voted in by players in 2022 for the full list of rules and guidance regarding this method of play.
Character Generation
The Storytellers reserve the right to refuse any character concept or part of a character concept. This is usually to keep a decent balance of clans in the game.
Generation
The lowest generation you can get at character generation is 8th Generation. If you reach 6th Generation or below in gameplay your character will become an NPC.
Age Roll
This is available to all players but is only recommended to long term players who have the in game knowledge of the GV canon to back up the characters age. This is to help provide the option for a more diverse set of characters.
Each point of Age gives 25 XP. Minus 10 points of humanity and gain an enemy or 1 dot of enemy.
The XP gained from this roll is given after character generation and cannot be spent at character generation costs for XP spends (also called freebie point costs).
If you choose to attempt this:
The STs will roll a d100 and they will give you the result.
26-100: You do not pass the roll and you gain nothing.
11-25: Age 1. Within this range you gain 25xp. You lose 10 points of humanity and you gain 1 dot of enemy.
4-10: Age 2. With this roll you gain 50xp. You lose 20 points of humanity and you gain 2x 1 dot enemies or a 2 dot enemy.
1-3,: Age 3 . At this point you get 75 XP, You lose 30 points of humanity and you gain either 3 x 1 dot enemies or a 3 dot enemy
Changing Flaws & Backgrounds from creation
This relates to those that granted the character points at creation. If they are to be changed it must be with appropriate role play over an extended period of time. Also, with approval of the STs. These Merits/Flaws should be replaced with others to an equivalent value – ideally related to the Character history etc. You do not need to spend XP to change these.
Example: Flaw: New Arrival (Level-1) To buy off this flaw its almost something that happens naturally once you are accepted etc.
Example: Rising Star (Level +3) you have been in court for a long time and as such this is no longer relevant to the character.
Downtime Orders
Each player gets 6 orders points per month.
Ghouls
Players may only include 6 active ghouls named in their order with simple tasks assigned to them. They can all be included in 1 order point but failure to include them will result in the STs assuming they are not being fed for the month.
Bare in mind this is meant to cover the time it takes for you to keep the bond with them and to feed them so the tasks you assign to them should be simple and easy to complete. e.g. surveillance that you can get feedback for, creating things like artwork for you, working a day job to give you money etc.
This is not a way to get 6 more orders squeezed into one.
If you choose to have more than 6 ghouls this will cause blood pool issues that may affect your blood reserves.
Training
You may complete up to 4 training related asks in a single order point provided that they are all 3 dots or less. This can be giving or receiving training for Attributes and Abilities.
Disciplines & 4 dot learning & higher: Any skill at 4 dots or higher is considered to be something that you have mastered and as such you need to submit it as a separate order with a basic description of the training and the specialization you are taking.
You can only learn one out of clan discipline dot per month.
You gain one level of blood bond for every out of clan discipline dot learned.
Lores & Secret knowledge
These require a teacher for every level of learning. Sometimes you may find a textbook that is able to give you 1 dot of a lore but this is at ST discretion (aka this is usually a plot reward)
Dice Pool/ Trackers
You get one dice roll per order, although Storytellers may use more than one if they feel it is necessary to the plot.
Please send your preferred dice rolls with each order point.
This should be as per the V20 system:
Attribute + Ability
Or
Attribute + Background
Backgrounds do not stack. it’s the most appropriate background from those you have for the task at hand.
Disciplines can either give a general boost to what you are doing, or you can state you are using a specific power from those available to you to increase your chances of success.
In your orders thiis should look like this:
Attribute + (Ability/Background)+ Discipline
Willpower
You automatically regain one willpower point per month. This can be further enhanced through orders or character actions in linears.
Bloodbonds
Levels
Level 1 blood bond: At this level, your thoughts over the month linger on your regnant. If you don’t spend an orders point dedicated to them, then you will need to pass a willpower check at difficulty 6 each month, or you lose one of your order points (chosen at random). Examples of actions your character might take are doing something to help them, dreaming about them, stalk them, or just spending hours working out the perfect outfit the next time you see them.
Level 2 blood bond: At least 3 orders points must be dedicated to aiding or following your regnant or resisting the overwhelming urge to do so.
Level 3 blood bond: At least 5 order points must be dedicated to your regnant.
Blood Bond Degeneration
Level 1 and 2 blood bonds degenerate at the rate of one step every three months without vitae. Level 3 bonds will require outside help to break often, with dire consequences that will put your character in danger.
The degeneration begins when you go a full three months without drinking more vitae (except for level 3). If you do drink an addition blood point, you go up to the next level with all the downsides.
For example:
- You get a 1 point blood bond
- After 2 months you drink again, raising you to a 2 point bond
- 3 months later (5 months total) you drop to a level 1 bond
- And 3 months after that (8 months total) you’d finally be free
Disciplines
Vicissitude
Vicissitude 2 or higher may be used to heal bashing damage taken by mortals. Vicissitude 3 or higher allows you to heal lethal taken by mortals. Healing supernaturals requires combo disciplines (eg. Sculpt the Flowing wound) or specific diciplines/rituals. Supernatural powers can only ever heal a wound once (ie you can’t take two rolls on two turns to try and heal the same knife wound)
Koldonic Sorcery
Way of Spirit – Clarification
Way of Spirit allows you to see & talk to the spirits of the Land &/or animals. Everything has a spirit.
WP roll = to the difficulty to activate, So level of power +3 I.e activate level 1 is Diff 4 up to Level 5 Diff 8. a WP point can still be spent. If the vampire only rolls a max of 5 for any success they can only see up to the 2 dot limit. A botch is still possible.
Backgrounds
If all your extended backgrounds (the text boxes explaining your backgrounds) are filled in. You receive 1 additional XP for having them all filled in. This is a one off reward.
In General all extended backgrounds should be filed in, if not then if they need used & we realize they are not filled in, they will be considered 1 DOT lower than they have on your character sheet.
As in the V20 rulebook, Backgrounds cannot be increased with XP. However, they can be increased with Orders. For example, one might spend an Order rolling Charisma + Subterfuge to beguile mortals and increase the Herd background. The Storytellers will assign dots of Backgrounds to you once you have achieved a certain number of rolls (generally 1 dot = 5 successes, 2 dots = 10, 3 dots= 15 etc).
Your character is defined as much by the backgrounds they don’t have as by the backgrounds they do. Other characters will react with surprise if you do not have at least one dot in each of the following-
Haven: With 0 dots in Haven, you are homeless.
Resources: With 0 dots in Resources, you are penniless.
Status: With 0 dots in Status, you have either not been released by your sire or are Caitiff or are otherwise looked down upon for some reason.
Haven
The background ‘Haven’ covers a single property that is not a domain as granted by the Prince but merely a place to sleep and live. . The allows a character to control a property with buying or renting a property. The Haven covers up to the property boundary. Dots in this background contribute to the quality and safety of this haven. A 1 dot haven can be a castle but it is a castle with a leaky roof and a tiny corner you can curl up in to escape the sunlight in the morning. You decide to fix the windows to include shutters to block out sunlight and put this in orders, you get to roll for Haven 2.
This comes into play if someone tries to attack or invade your haven mostly but also on how appropriate it is to invite guests of significant standing to your home.
If you do not have a dot in Haven, you are homeless and have no where safe from sunlight to hide. You will be reliant on what invitations of hospitality you can get from others.
Path Changes
As GVLARP runs a 1-100 level for the path not 1-10 changes are more subtle and also take longer.
There should always be an IC reason for the path change & it needs to match the hierarchy of sins for the path as well have been something they are working on long term.
Select the most suitable from the characters Virtues:- Conscience, Courage, Self Control, Conviction, Instinct. A character will only have 3 of these.
For each dot in the Virtue selected roll 2 D10 (a maximum of 10 D10. For each success rolled with a difficulty of the next full unit of tens higher (EG 48 difficulty here is 5 and 72 difficulty here is 8) 1’s do not detract from the total number of successes. Each success is another point(unit) gained on the journey out of 100 (So 4 successes takes a 72 to 76, its not automatic that you will gain a full ‘tens’level.
It’s the same mechanic for dropping path though this will be down to Story progression for the ST to do, as mentioned in the VtM V20 info dropping of path should be rare and for a big deal.
A story reason is needed for both an increase and decrease in a character path. This is merely the mechanics of how it would work if this has been achieved or caused through role play and in game actions.
Game Quality
While Vampire the masquerade is a game of extreme themes and ideas as a game, we have voted to exclude all active themes of rape from our game. This includes in character chats, linears, in orders and at the game night itself.
there is no scenario which should break this rule and if a player, Storyteller or other member of the community crosses this line please do not hesitate to speak to the Admin, a Player Liaison or to raise this issue to the community as a whole.