Greetings.  My name is Joe L.  I play Lord Armand Darkheart in the Hearts of Darkness Vampire role-playing room.  Before you enter our home, the Hearts of Darkness, or any other vampire home on the web for that matter, it is a good idea to have your mind prepared for some common items and whatnot that can change drastically from locale to locale, and some things to know right off.

First, Hearts of Darkness, as well as any other vampire home online worth the trouble to attempt to role-play within, are based on the rules systems for table-top and live-action role-playing games published by White Wolf Publishing, the systems most notably pertinent being Vampire:  The Masquerade and Mind’s Eye Theater:  Laws of the Night systems.  Unlike either of these home table or yard based systems, there is no Storyteller or Game Master, to adjudicate disputes, etc.  It is rather freeform and cooperative online.  This means that in order for everyone to have fun as the game is intended, it takes a little cooperation, a little maturity, a little understanding, and good, old-fashioned common sense.

There are a few key areas in which I would like to focus on for online role-playing, that will pretty much serve you very well in any WW vampire, werewolf, wraith, hunter, changeling, etc. based room you find yourself in.

The first very basic rule, applied to any role-playing room is that the rules for the room supercede ANY OTHER RULES IN THAT ROOM.  For example, a vampire character finds himself stumbling into a werewolf room and comes under attack, where the rules of the room are five actions per post, three alternating posts for sparring, which is different say than the rules to which he is accustomed to.  In laymen’s terms, this situation is what we call “tough shit.”  The room’s rules overrule any outside rule.  HINT:  READ THE ENTRANCE PAGE, CLAN/PACK/KITH/WHATEVER PAGES, ETC. BEFORE ENTERING THAT ROOM!!!!  Be aware of and familiar with that room’s basic rules and such.  NO KILL/CAPTURE ZONES mean exactly that.  Do NOT expect to assassinate, kill, or otherwise end the life of someone in such a room and have everyone accept it as legitimate unless prior arrangements and agreements have been made.  Trust me, it DOES NOT HAPPEN.

Secondly, “godmoding,” or in plain English, characters who make up powers on the fly, and/or have any power you can imagine, and CANNOT BE KILLED OR WOUNDED have NO place in HD or just about anywhere else.  This is the height of being LAME.  Role-playing should be just that, role-playing.  It is far more cool to maybe get your ass kicked, but still manage to piss them off, get what you came after, etc. rather than stand there bellowing, “I have this and this and this, so that doesn’t hurt, and oh, yeah, that punch you took?  Your blood is now eating you alive because I cast God spit on it.”  This quite simply is the stupidest, most juvenile thing you can do, rather than whine about rules that you don’t even follow yourself.  We have regular “visitors” who claim several of our characters can’t exist, can’t have a certain discipline, etc. because we are too old, or too high a generation, etc. YET IN THE SAME BREATH declare themselves superior to us because they are older, more powerful, etc.  IF YOU WANT SOMEONE TO FOLLOW A RULE YOU THINK THEY SHOULD, MAKE DAMNED SURE YOU FOLLOW IT TOO!!!  Otherwise, get the fuck out of my face, get out of my room, and shut the fuck up.  That is the epitome of being lame.  And these morons have the balls to call US lame?  I think not.

Now, on to WW specifics, especially for vampires.

Stereotypes – Don’t be a fucking moron and fall prey to taking stereotypes as fact and refusing to acknowledge a character who does NOT follow a stereotype because that is lame as hell.  For example, don’t for one moment assume (we ALL know what happens when we assume) that because a vampire is of House Toreador that they are weak and cannot fight.  This is a STEREOTYPE!!  Nor think that all Toreador succumb to the clan weakness in the same manner and to the same degree from the same stimuli because once again, jackass, that is a stereotype.  That is like assuming ALL black people eat BBQ, friend chicken and watermelon, and are ignorant.  That is like assuming ALL white males have little dicks and are closet nerds.  That is like assuming ALL Latinos wearing three piece suits are in court facing jail time.  That is like assuming ALL Native Americans wear buffalo skins, live on reservations, and make loud noises at the drop of a hat.  How fucking moronic does all that sound?  Pretty pathetically stupid, eh?  Same goes for vampires.  Never assume ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE.  That is a good way to die in the World of Darkness.

Generation – There are those who swear that there is no way many of us can exist at our generation.  Okay, first of all, in HD we figure our generations through First Edition rules, for several good reasons.  To begin with, they are more logical, they are older, they are FAR more detailed, and what was in use when I converted my character over from the last two role-playing systems I had played him under BEFORE VTM even existed.  Now, many refuse this reasoning because Third Edition has fucked the Generation table up so badly.  So, in addition, there are two Backgrounds that justify it as well, in the Third Edition.  These are the Background of Generation (found in the core rulebook, Vampire:  The Masquerade, Third Edition, page 131) whereby you spend Experience Points to lower your generation and the Background Age (in the Third Edition Storyteller’s Handbook, page 36-37) whereby older Elder characters can be built, using Experience Points and Freebie Points, among other methods.  I have been playing Armand Darkheart ever since February of 1985.  At this moment, that is over 15 years.  He began under the rules system for TSR’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, then was converted to I.C.E.’s RoleMaster rules, and then was converted to White Wolf’s Vampire:  The Masquerade First Edition rules during its beta testing period in 1988, before being released to the public shelves in 1991.  I can’t help it if you have not been role-playing as long as I have (since April 1974, with the first release of TSR’s Basic Dungeons & Dragons standard set) or if you are not as old as I am.  That is not my fault, and I will not change my character’s 15-year real time history because you don’t like it.  He has EARNED EVERY SINGLE POINT, ATTRIBUTE, ABILITY, DISCIPLINE, MERIT, FLAW, ETC. THROUGH ROLE-PLAY.  So, kiss my ass if you can’t deal with him.

Disciplines – Another hot point for argument is the area of disciplines possessed by a character.  I don’t know how so many people who all speak the same language can misread such a clear and concise statement as what follows.

From Vampire:  The Masquerade, Third Edition core rule book, Product # WW2300, page 146:

“Characters may also acquire Disciplines other than those commonly taught by their clan, provided they spend the proper freebie or experience points and have access to a vampire teacher.”

From Mind’s Eye Theater:  Laws of the Night, Third Edition, Product # WW5013, page 133:

“All vampires can naturally learn their clan Disciplines with nothing more than the expenditure of Experience Traits.  As with any learned capability, the new powers become available at the next game session.

“The cardinal eight Disciplines that are shared by every clan – Animalism, Auspex, Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude, Obfuscate, Potence, and Presence – require only a willing teacher who is one level above what the student wishes to learn.  What payment the teacher requires is best left to the characters to haggle out between themselves.  Out of game, the Storyteller may require that the vampire indicate who is teaching him his Discipline.

“Certain Disciplines are proprietary to their clans – created by them and often practiced solely by them.  Some clans have even hunted those outside the clan’s bounds who knew of their secrets.  Teachers of these wondrous powers are, consequently, few and far between.  Those fortunate enough to acquire a teacher, however, are not done yet – in order to study the Discipline, they must drink a Trait of blood from a vampire capable of learning the Discipline (which need not necessarily be the teacher).  Cainite scholars believe that this is necessary to ‘attune’ the blood to learning something that is quite alien.  The drink is only necessary once, and the student may learn as long as the teacher wishes to retain her.  These Disciplines that require this are Chimeristry, Dementation, Melpominee, Necromancy, Obeah, Obtenebration, Protean, Quietus, Serpentis, Thanatosis, Thaumaturgy, and Vissicitude.”  [Temporis, among others, also falls into this category.]

Now, that pretty much blows the “you can’t have Fortitude if you are Brujah,” or “you can’t have Thaumaturgy because you are Toreador” arguments, doesn’t it?  If you have a laundry list of proprietary Disciplines, at least have the common sense and common courtesy to have prepared a viable reason why you have them.  It’s far more fun that way.

Now, while we speak on Disciplines, let’s talk usage of them.  If you are going to use a Discipline, I strongly suggest you use this format:

I also recommend spelling them completely out, such as Auspex/Telepathic Communication, or Thaumaturgy/Movement of the Mind/Repulse.  Abbreviations are okay, but make sure everyone knows EXACTLY which Discipline, Path, and Power you are using.  Also, be descriptive of what you are doing, especially if the discipline gives any special bonuses or has any special advantages or some such that someone else may not be aware of, such as Celerity/Fleetness giving you an extra physical action, or Auspex/Prediction not counting as an action.  If you come into HD with this kind of post, “Using my Movement of the Mind, I throw you across the room into the wall,” I will laugh your ass out of HD and the action will be ignored.  However, if you do this, “Using my Thaumaturgy/Movement of the Mind/Repulse, slinging you across the room into the wall,” I will recognize the post, attempt to either block or counter it, and take damage if I cannot block it.

Next, we have those wonderful character created disciplines and/or paths and/or powers.  There are RULES for creating disciplines, paths, and powers, specifically on page 81 of the Guide to the Camarilla Third Edition, Product # WW2302 and on page 97 of the Guide to the Sabbat Third Edition, Product # WW2303, as well as throughout the Storyteller’s Handbook Third Edition, Product # WW2304.  USE THEM!!  If you wish to use a character created (i.e. not published at any time by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.) discipline, path, or power, particularly in combat, a FULLY DOCUMENTED, IN WRITING, description MUST be supplied to the owner of the room or the one presently in charge AND to the opponent/s or IT WILL NOT BE RECOGNIZED.  Period.  We do the same when we travel and we expect the same courtesy.

Now then, that I have reached the end of my time on the soapbox, I hope you have a better understanding of how role-playing works online.  Of course, depending on where you go, all, some, or none of this may apply, but any place worth playing in has rules that are fair to everyone and make sense.  If they think you are lame for using “crutches” like rules, THEY are the lame ones who can’t allow something as trivial as fair play regulate their actions.  These prepubescents need to lay off and get our of their dads’ porn bookmarks before they go blind.

HAVE FUN ROLE-PLAYING!!!!!!

Joe L.