Changes - May 2016

[Shan]

We've wanted to make some changes to help reduce ooc management and hopefully make it easier to get involved and have more fun. Stay tuned as I will be editing this post as some of the plans your Ops Team has been working out come live.

1. New Numina - Telepathic Suggestion
   • Custom powers have always been possible, within reason. Jose has offered to help people since the beginning but no one has brought it up. Back in February someone asked which rules to use for Telepathy as Ascension's Right Hand and Sorcerer didn't match, and still weren't updated for V20 rules.
     
     With the help of Death and Jose, I worked on Telepathic Sensing and Telepathic Projection. A division suggested in a sidebar in Sorcerer. We added Telepathic Links to allow for greater flexibility, but sadly whoever had asked about it before has since moved on. Although Puppetry was a part of Sorcerer version, we felt it overlapped the skills of other supernaturals and was a bit too much for mortals. So now we have brought you Telepathic Suggestion!
     
     You might find some similarities with Dominate, but Telepathic Suggestion is more about being subtle and is much easier for Sleepers to pass off as a person being charismatic and likable rather than straight up crazy magic, and thus is a little easier to use against them. Supernaturals are fully aware of the immense possibilities of magic and the powers of the mind, and so will be a harder sell.
2. Bastet Gift Swiping
   • This actually has been around for a while, but as I was playing the only (active) bastet at the time it seems to have fallen through the cracks. So making it official.

[Shan]

Additional changes this month.

1. Moving to Montly XP rewards
   • In an effort to streamline background processes and simplify rules, XP rewards will be moving to a monthly tracking system rather than weekly. There are a number of changes that will accompany this, so check out the following post for details. [XP Changes]
2. Training Times are Removed!
   • This is made possible thanks to the changes in the monthly XP changes. XP gains will be a bit slower, and the time required to earn teh xp will adequately represent the time required to learn new abilities, powers or increase attributes. Keep in mind your character MUST make efforts to advance in those areas and all XP spends must be approved by a STer via the Downtime Reports. If your character does nothing but drink beer and eat onion rings, you will be hard pressed to explain why his or her wits have increased.
3. Lores as Backgrounds
   • We understand how important Lores are in our game. Moving forward, Lores will be treated as a Background. All the divisions and topics will still be there, and each will have the five ranks currently represented as advanced knowledges. See the following post for details. [Lore Changes]
4. Additional Freebies at Creation
   • Newly created characters will get a boost with additional freebies. See the following post for details. [Creation Changes]
5. Fae House Rules Added
   • Like the Bastet Gift Swiping added earlier this month, these house rules have been in effect for some time, but they were lacking in specific details. Remember this is OOC knowledge. IC knowlege of these effects will require appropriate levels of lore. If you play a fae character or have been considering one, be sure to check these out.
     • Vampires and Banality
       The Dreaming

[Shan]

Monthly XP

Primary Characters will earn 3 XP
Secondary Characters will earn 5 XP
Downtime Reports grant +2 XP per character

This means a Primary will earn a max of 5 XP a month (60 XP a year) and Secondaries will earn a maximum of 7 XP per month (84 XP a year). This also means Downtime Reports weigh more heavily into your XP gains. For Primary characters a downtime report makes up 40% of your max XP gains as opposed to 20%. For Secondaries, a downtime makes up 30% of your max XP gains as opposed to 15%. Those who remember to submit a downtime report in a timely fashion, will be rewarded.

1. Monthly XP will be reduced.
   • If you look at the current XP totals, there are a lot of characters sitting on large stockpiles of XP and there has been very little spending. This suggests we've been handing out too much XP all along.
   • Reduced XP will assist with removing training times. With a slower learning rate, the spending rate will be kept in check.
   • As with all of our changes, if numbers need to be tweaked later they will be. However you need to give the change a chance.
2. Monthly XP will be adjusted once per month
   • This means your earnings for the past month will be added to your total on the same day your XP Spends have been deducted.
   • Expect to see an update between the 1st and 2nd week of the month, once ops have resolved all Downtime questions and approved (or denied) spending requests. You may only have to write one downtime, but the STers are responding to everyone.
3. ALL active characters will earn XP at the update.
   • We won't be tracking who rp'd what night, or reviewing logs. If your character is considered active, you get XP.
4. Inactivity will be more subjective.
   • Generally when looking at inactive characters, we will review the past 2 months.
   • Again, we will NOT be looking through logs for proof of rp. If you happen to post 3 lines of rp 8 weeks ago and nothing else since then, you probably don't have much to argue about.
   • If you are actively rping, contributing to the setting and/or plot, then you probably have nothing to worry about.
   • If you feel one of your characters was unfairly tagged as inactive, contact an op and we will discuss it.
   • Inactive characters will remain in your character listing but will be tagged as INACTIVE in their title. The thread will also be closed. Speak to an Op if you wish to make the character active again.

[Shan]

Lore Backgrounds

Freebie Cost at Creation: 1
XP Cost for Existing Characters: 0

1. Earning Lores
   • Like all backgrounds, earning them with existing characters takes RP effort and is at STer discretion.
   • You MUST have a mentor, resource, or significant experience with the appropriate lore, for a lore request to be approved.
   • With training times removed, a request will either be approved or denied. If you had a PC or NPC mentor who agreed to train you and your lore point was denied, you can apply again with your next downtime report. Be sure to list previous months of study when you reapply, and try to work some of this in to your regular rp. (This can be as simple as your character being tired or frustrated from long hours of study)
   • Most tutelage will come at a price and it is unlikely that you will learn lores without giving up something in return. Discuss this with other players prior to your downtime report if you are asking their characters for help. Both players should put this in their reports, and what is being exchanged should also be noted.
   • Your may not mentor your own characters with your own PCs. Please find another player, NPC, or in game resource to progress your characters.
2. Lores at Creation
   • New characters will no longer earn free lores at creation. Considering most new players forgot this, it isn't a big deal. However keep in mind a vampire without [Kindred Lore: 1], probably doesn't have a clue what's happened to them never mind what the masquerade is. Might want to consider this when creating new characters.
   • This may be a great place to dump extra or odd freebie points, but keep in mind even at creation, you will need to justify how your character has learned higher lore levels, obscure lores, or the lores of other supernatural beings.

[Shan]

Creation Freebies

Newly created characters will receive addition freebie creation points. These values are reflected in the character creation thread. Primary characters will receive an additional 15 Freebies. Secondary characters will receive an additional 20 Freebies. How to make a character for Rumble Street

• Primary Characters
  • Supernaturals: 115 Freebie Points
    Mortals: 121 Freebies Points
  Secondary Characters
  • Supernaturals: 50 Freebie Points
    Mortals: 56 Freebie Points

[Shan]

For those who look for shiny new posts, #5 in the second post is new as of today. Last minute addition of fae house rules.