VSS Creation Guide
Part 1: Basic Information
The first part of the VSS should include basic information about the Venue – names and emails of important contacts, as well as typical game locations and Dates.
Example:
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Part 1: Basic Information
Domain Name:
Domain Number:
Venue: Changeling the Lost
VST Name and Email:
DST Name and Email:
DC Name and Email:
When and Where games are most often held:
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Part 2: Style of Play
This section should prepare players – yours and those visiting – for the kind of experience they can expect when attending your game. Typically listed here are categories of different play-styles with number rankings to indicate their importance to the game in question.
Example:
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Part 2: Styles of Play
Ratings & Rating Descriptions: 1 = Never present / 2 = Sometimes present / 3 = Often present / 4 = Usually present / 5 = Always present
Action (Combat/Challenges): 3
Character Development (Personal Dilemmas/Choices): 2
Darkness (PC Death/Corruption): 4
Drama (Ceremony/Grand story): 4
Intrigue (Politics/Negotiation): 1
Mystery (Enigmas/Investigation): 2
Gameplay taking place in the Real World:2
Gameplay taking place in the Hedge: 4
Gameplay taking place in Dreams: 1
Theme/Mood: The current direction I plan on taking is gathering the group together first by having them establish a free hold. As they begin living out their Changelings’ lives I want to provide National and Regional plots while also using their own methods through them providing a personal horror of recapture and being exploited again. Themes of paranoia will be illustrated using regular action sequences involving the threat of re-capture.
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Part 3: Description of Venue
This is the section of your VSS where you can dig into the specifics of how your venue explores the themes listed in Part 2. Things like background and specifics about the current state of the city should be listed here. This is a great place to get creative about your venue, and really draw folks into the story you and your players are weaving.
Example (taken from the Boca Raton venue in the previous chronicle):
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Part 3: Description of Venue
3a) VST VENUE PHILOSOPHY
Changeling in the view of the storytelling staff is the darkest venue of the NWOD due to the omnipresent inhuman and unknowable motivations of the Gentry. The imprisonment and abuse that each Lost has suffered at their hands leaves the members of Lost society fragile and susceptible to the terrors of unseen dangers. The fact that Arcadia and the Gentry are as an antagonist group the most adaptable, customizable, and personal in the NWOD makes Changeling the Lost a unique storytelling and roleplaying opportunity.
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3b) A PAST BETTER FORGOTTEN
In the final days of prominence of the Tequesta in these lands did a man crawl ashore at what would become known as the city of Boca Raton. He was what we today call a pirate but back then he was called thief. A deckhand on the flag ship of Captain Henry Morgan he was caught stealing from an officers quarters and sentenced to death.
The night before he was to walk the plank to a murk grave in Davy Jones Locker he had a dream. In the dream a shadowy presence called out to him from a distance, “Do you wish to be free?” He of course responded that he did. The shadowy presence then speaking as if whispering in his ear said, “And so you shall be”, and with that a countless sea of gleaming red eyes appeared in the dark distance of his dream. They began to squeak and twitter as they closed in upon him and he began to scream as they crawled all over him gnawing and scratching.
He awoke drenched in a pool of his own sweat, breathing heavily, gasping for air, and trying to swipe away the creatures in a frantic attempt to save himself. As his surroundings became clear to him he realized that he was free of the ropes confining him as he awaited his judgment. Bewildered and still disoriented he gazed absently at his surroundings and in the door way sitting on its haunches staring back at him was a rat. He blinked and rubbed his eyes in disbelief and as he opened them he saw only the tail of the rat as it scampered away down the hallway towards the stairway to the deck. As he lifted himself to his feet he thought to himself, “I have seen something strange but will not question my good fortune.” He rubbed his wrists as he made to follow and questioned if he had seen the rat smile before it scampered away.
Coughing and spluttering up what felt like the whole sea from his lungs he awoke lying on a beach with the waves lazily lapping at his feet. He craned his neck to look around as he propped himself up on his elbows. A few feet from the underbrush sitting on its haunches staring back at him was the rat from the ship. He made to get up and it slipped into the protection of the forest but he was undeterred and gave chase crashing through the brush determined to find answers to his questions.
At each turn he could only catch fleeting glimpses of his quarry and with each passing moment the growth around him grew thicker with obstructions and dangerous with thorns ripping and tearing at his clothes. But he thought to himself, “Just a little more and I will have my answer.” And when he was about to give up hope he entered a clearing amongst the throng of brambles and the deep thicket.
To his dismay he stood in a clearing and before him was a cave its opening the gaping maw of a rat twice the height of the tallest man. To call the visage of this creature immortalized in stone ugly would be praise. In the mouth of the rat staring at him sitting on its haunches staring back was the rat the new focus of his obsession.
He crept closer to the mouth of the rat reading himself to pounce upon his quarry. It was his obsession that was his undoing; he did not notice the countless sea of gleaming red eyes in the dark of the cave and the brush. The last thing heard of him in those woods were screams so piercing that your soul would weep.
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3c) FEVERED DREAMS OF THE PRESENT
No one remembers why this place is called Boca Raton, but I do. The Spanish word for mouth, boca, is used to refer to an inlet and the word for thief is ratones. This place is the Thieves Inlet or as it is more commonly referred to is the Mouth of the Rat. Both are truer than many know and each moniker has a resonance with this place.
We live today in fear. Fear of The Rat a keeper that is unknowable in its motivations and unfathomable in its depravity. We live today in fear. Fear of The Rat Catcher our Autumn Monarch, our protector of so many years. The monarch is almost as legendary as The Rat itself and we live as free as Lost can under the monarchs watchful eye. We live today in fear. Fear that one day that we will lose The Rat Catcher to the dangers of the hedge, minions of The Rat, or possibly to the ravages of old age for the Autumn Monarch has reigned since the last great world war.
There are those who would carry on the mantle of The Rat Catcher should the unthinkable occur. We have Deidra Pendragon, the Summer Monarch, a Draconic Fairest, and our best military leader. She stands as beacon of hope against the darkness of The Rat and all the evils that confront us. And lest we forget we have Paul Long, the Spring Monarch, a Leachfinger Darkling, the purveyor of smut and filth to mortal and Lost alike, he can be counted on in a pinch. He may not be the most savory of characters but he knows who is friends are. I wish I could tell you that there was a strong member of the Winter Court to carry on in place of the Autumn Monarch but alas even if there is I know not the Lost or what name they go by.
So we go forward and pray we can stand in the face of the dangers that present themselves”
Keeper of the Tomes
Ferdinand Killian
Antiquarian, Autumn Courtier
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Part 4: Storyteller Mechanics
In the Storyteller Mechanics section of the VSS, you and your players will dig into the nitty-gritty of how your domain handles things like Freehold Status, starting glamor, proxies, character creation, experience rewards and just about anything else that requires local mechanics or restrictions above and beyond those listed in the addendum.
Some of these are critical to running each game. For each example section, we’ve provided a few different options for you to lift word-for-word into your own VSS – the idea is to make VSS creation as pain-free as possible. If one or more of these options doesn’t work for you and your players, feel free to adapt the examples or create your Domain’s own mechanics.
Part 4A: Character Creation Guidelines
The rules for character creation can range from very simple and unrestrictive, to guidelines and suggestions, to a large number of rules for VSSs requiring a very specific play-style. A few examples are to follow:
Character Creation Example 1: Expectations are outlined to players very clearly. Certain “anti-social” or “min-maxed” concepts are disallowed outright. This helps facilitate roleplay in the venue, but does put a few restrictions on what kinds of concepts are acceptable. The following block can be used if you and your players are interested in a cooperative game with heavy role-play:
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4a) CHARACTER CREATION GUIDELINES
A character sheet must be complete to be attached to this VSS. A complete sheet requires a detailed history or at least very detailed timeline and bullet notes consisting of: Events before being taken, circumstances of capture, the keeper, durance, fetch, escape, and immediate history after, a full sheet of stats, information on all pledges (Exact Wording, Stat breakdown, when it was sworn, and other participants), Approvals for all items upon your sheet, and most importantly, must mostly reside in the domain for their existence. Traveling outside of the domain on business or pleasure is acceptable, but the character must spend the majority of his time in the domain borders.
Character sheets should also be balanced. Characters with clear min-maxing will be brought into question, and have a limited amount of time to re-write their sheets before a penalty is levied. Appropriate concepts for the venue will also be taken into consideration. Outright antagonistic concepts which have no allies locally are unacceptable, and unplayable. With a limited storytelling staff, it is not practical to jeopardize one storyteller to play for one person. As such, characters must have reasonable ties to the freehold to be attached to this VSS.
While loner concepts work as the protagonist of a book or film, LARP is not the sort of venue where you have a star, a co-star or two, and a host of supporting characters. LARP is, above all, ensemble cast story telling. All characters in the story are equally important. In order to fully participate in the telling of an ensemble-cast story, your character should have at least some measure of interest in others, and at least one long-term goal that requires reliance on or cooperation with others (at least four) in the /local/ venue. Characters found to be lacking in any regard will have a limited amount of time to work with the storytellers to change their concept, or risk being de-sanctioned or removed from the VSS.
Character Creation Example 2: A much simpler example, this would be more suitable for a smaller or more casual game that has very few creation requirements. While allowing a maximum of flexibility for players, it’s very unrestrictive otherwise. Note that while unrestrictive, the right for the Storyteller to review the character before play is listed:
4a) CHARACTER CREATION GUIDELINES
Characters should be created according the rules of any appropriate organization addendums, and are subject to Storyteller review before entering play during games. A complete character record, as defined by the Membership Handbook, is required for characters being portrayed in the venue.
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Part 4B: Proxy Play
Expressly defining Proxy rules is an important step in writing your VSS. Potential issues with mass proxies, proxies with the intent of character death, and proxies with the intent of mischief can have large impacts on your local game.
Proxy Play Example 1: This is a medium-complexity, “warm body” proxy rule. This helps balance issues regarding proxy play and the burden placed on players.
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4b) PROXY PLAY
All Hard Proxies require Full Character Sheets, Approval numbers, copies of any Custom Mechanics and Experience Point Logs. Proxy Requests come in several flavors. Each form of Proxy comes with different requirements from the VST.
a. Hard Proxy - PC Represented at a Game: This requires 48 hours notice to the VST per the Proxy rules in the Addendum. Generally, the player should try to find someone to portray the PC for the player at the game. If a “Warm Body” cannot be found, the VST holds the Right to have the PC only conduct minimal interaction with the rest of the game. Hard Proxies to a scheduled game provides the base Game XP (See Experience Points below).