Lex Vernaculus
                       [ChicagoRequiem]
                                        May 16th, 1996

     "Anyone who likes to eat sausage and respects the law should never
     watch either one being made." --Attributed to Mark Twain

Chicago Requiem is in the process of putting together a booklet of local
rule clarifications, interpretations, and changes. The compilation will
probably not be released until a considerable time after the pocket guide to
Mind's Eye Theatre is released. In the meantime, here are a few rules that
are definitely in force in Chicago, and indeed in the entire One World by
Night.

On the Vampiric Soul: Many vampiric abilities spring from the soul as well
as the blood. An indication of this is the act of diablerie, which requires
not only the consumption of all a vampire's blood, but her soul as well.
Based on that reasoning, the Embrace must involve the transfer of part of
the sire's soul. Mortals can only be Embraced by drinking blood from the
body of a living vampire at the moment of the mortal's death: just ingesting
a trait of vampiric blood will result in the mortal becoming a ghoul, and
may not even prevent her demise.

For similar reasons, the disciplines that are "inborn" to members of a clan
are linked to the soul of the antediluvian they are descended from. Vampires
need no teacher for in-clan disciplines. A vampire may learn any out-of-clan
discipline taught to them (a two-week-long process, the beginning of which
should be roleplayed,) but vampires may only teach the disciplines they
possess in-clan. For example, a Gangrel could teach Animalism, Fortitude,
and Protean, but not Potence, even if she knew Puissance. Only an Assamite
could teach Quietus. Caitiff may teach three of the disciplines they start
game play with, provided the discipline in question is possessed in-clan by
more than one clan. Note: powerful elders (read: narrator characters) of
certain clans may be able to teach specific out-of-clan disciplines.

Character Creation: When creating a new character, players may allocate no
more than five negative traits and five points in flaws. No player may enter
the game with extra build points. Players may start the game with no more
than three of any ability, and may never have more than five. Players may
not play characters for which Whitewolf has not released live action rules,
for example True Brujah, Baali, Gaki, mages, changelings, and wraiths. The
creation of extremely rare characters, such as Salubri, involves a petition
to the board of OWBN and will take a considerable amount of time. No
character may begin with an advanced discipline. In Chicago Requiem, a
random process will be used to determine if a player can enter with certain
rare abilities, including (but not limited to) the Iron Will and Unbondable
merits and Numina. (Players will have only a 10% chance to be allowed these
abilities.)

Experience: Characters earn one experience point (XP) for each Elysium
(Saturday game) they attend, for a maximum of 2 xp/month. Characters can
earn up to 3 xp/month by attending other OWBN game sessions--if you go to
the Club X game twice in a month, you earn 2 xp total. If you go to the Club
X game four times a month, Kenosha twice, and trip down to Cincinnati as
well, you also earn 3 xp, and should probably get a life. Characters may
also earn up to 3 xp/month by contributing to the history and infrastructure
of the game: by writing a personal history (1 xp), submitting a detailed
description of their haven(s) and/or influences (1 xp), working for the
Decorations committee (1 xp/month), maintaining a clan web page or journal
(1 xp/month), or contributing to Whispers (1 xp/month). These are examples:
individual initiatives, like Dave Jennings managing status in Chicago, will
be rewarded. Finally, characters may earn extra xp at multi-day OWBN games
at conventions like Concentric--up to 2 xp/month.

Experience works slightly differently from OWBN game to OWBN game, but no
character in the OWBN may earn more than 8 xp/month, and the average should
be more like 3 xp/month.

     The following rule interpretations are used in Chicago Requiem:

Social challenges: All social challenges require social interaction--not
necessarily conversation, but the originator of the challenge is always
apparent. For example, Beast Within and Dread Gaze cannot be used under the
cover of Obfuscate ("I'm scared--but of what?"), and the subject of
Summoning always knows into whose presence they are being summoned.

Provoking Frenzy: Remember, if a character is in a situation that could
trigger her derangement or beast trait, any other character may engage her
in a social challenge to make her frenzy.

     The following rule is hotly contested, but has been the law of
     Requiem for some time now. Stay tuned.

Contests of Will: Immediately after losing a contested challenge, the
subject of a behavior-altering discipline such as Dominate, Dread Gaze,
Entrancement, Summoning, Beast Within, Song of Serenity, or Dementation may
spend a willpower trait to cancel out the effects of the discipline on
herself. However, the player using the discipline may cancel out the
subject's use of willpower by also spending a trait of willpower. The
subject may then spend more another point to cancel the discipline, and may
again have the willpower canceled, until one or the other of the
participants in the contest of wills cannot or will not spend more
willpower.

A contest of wills occurs only with the use of disciplines, not in other
mental/social challenges. In addition, a contest only occurs in contested
challenges, wherein both characters risk traits. An example of a mental
discipline to which the rule does not apply is Aura Perception: the use of
the discipline involves a mental static challenge, of difficulty equal to
the subject's total mental traits, on the part of the discipline's user. The
subject does not need to risk a mental trait, nor can the subject spend
willpower to cancel out the user's success.

In Chicago Requiem, the following challenges are defined as also being
static challenges: seeing through Obfuscate (a mental static challenge), and
breaking Majesty (a social static challenge). The Obfuscated/Majestic person
need not risk a trait, nor may she use willpower to cancel successes.

     The following sections may answer player questions about OWBN and
     about game ettiquette.

Relations with One World by Night

Crossovers with Other Games: Characters from various OWBN games are urged to
network: to visit other cities, to roleplay and share information by e-mail,
to include each other in backgrounds. Requiem characters may earn experience
by going to other OWBN games (see below), may learn Disciplines and swap
influences with characters from other OWBN games, and may use any
information they discover through OWBN roleplaying. In this way, we are
creating a rich and coherent world, where plotlines interweave with other
cities. For this to work properly, the integrity of OWBN must be preserved.
This means characters cannot participate in non-OWBN games, and experience
from non-OWBN games will not carry over to Requiem. To elaborate: anything
learned in a non-OWBN game is out-of-game information. Requiem characters
cannot die in non-OWBN games, nor can their statistics be altered in any
way, nor may they bring items, influences, or information acquired in
non-OWBN games to Requiem. Nothing in a non-OWBN game "really happens" to
Requiem characters. Players should play separate characters in the OWBN and
non-OWBN games, to prevent unintentional metagaming and to be fair to
participants of both games.

OWBN includes: Chicago Requiem (including Club X and Three Realms), Skeleton
Crew (in Pittsburgh), Rage Across the Southwest (in Arizona), Moonlight
Masquerade (in Phoenix), Always Comes Evening (in San Francisco),
Night...Falls (in Northern Virginia and in Washington, DC), a network of 10
games in Brazil (the first Requiem player(s) to go to one of them will get a
ton of experience), Suburban Nights in Barrington, the Eternal Aria of
Kenosha, and the nameless Cincinnati game. Palatine, Naperville, Urbana,
etc., are not OWBN.

Game Etiquette

The foremost rule of game etiquette is value the whole game over your own
agenda. When making plans and performing scenes, worry more about being
interesting and entertaining rather than about success or failure.

A clever player will find many loopholes in the rules and strange conditions
of game play that they could exploit to further their goals at the expense
of game balance and goodwill between players. A clever but ethical player
will then come up with in-character reasons not to take undue advantage. To
put it another way, your character knowing the ritual Chill of the Windsaber
doesn't justify a player going around magicking characters' heads off. Think
of yourselves as being part storytellers: put other players in challenging
situations, not impossible ones.

On killing characters: It is not prohibited, and indeed it is occasionally
necessary to a game's plot, for one character to kill another. However, the
death of another character should never be a character's main goal. The best
roleplayers are the ones who don't need to kill. Try to think of more
original and elaborate--in other words, more vampiric--forms of revenge when
you have been wronged. Try to come up with more subtle and creative ways to
seize power from others. Try to fit your enemies into your plans rather than
remove them. When all other character justifications fail, have your
character fall madly in love with the one they should want to kill--there's
a fate worse than death for the other player.

Roleplay on-site and in-character. Important changes, i.e. the Embrace, the
teaching of Disciplines, Blood Bonding, Conditioning, Vicissituding, and so
on should always be played out. Try to come up with in-game excuses to do
these on-site during game sessions, even though your characters would rather
do them somewhere with guaranteed privacy.

Few enjoy long sessions of rock-scissors-paper. Make challenges quickly and
quietly, preferably while still carrying on roleplaying. Rock-scissors-paper
cards are acceptable as long as the selection ofcards does not slow down
game play. Do not draw out challenges in attempts to gain advantage, such as
calling out every negative trait to see if your opponent has them, or taking
ten minutes to brag about having the bomb. On the other hand, it is
considered good roleplaying to bid appropriate traits and to work the bid
into conversation/narration.

After failing in a non-combat challenge, it is considered gauche to
immediately make another challenge of the same kind. For example, it is
tacky to try repeatedly to dominate someone to drink your blood in the same
conversation. To attempt to dominate them into drinking your blood, then
trying to dominate them into forgetting you tried to dominate them is more
acceptable.

Metagaming, the revelation of game secrets in an out-of-game context,
invariably leads to sloppy roleplay and cheating. As tempting as it is to
talk to others about things you know in-game about your character or others,
try to restrain the telling of "war stories" to public events that
characters would gossip about between sessions. It is profoundly unethical
and gauche to reveal another's secrets (true clan affiliation, dark secrets,
weaknesses, havens, etc.) if you are not in character. Storytellers and
players alike are justified in rebuking anyone they overhear metagaming.

Outright cheating, such as "morphing" rock-scissors-paper and the altering
of character sheets, is grounds for suspension from the game. Please do not
make idle accusations of cheating--if you can offer proof, bring the
cheating quietly to the attention of several storytellers at once.
Otherwise, please do not spread suspicions.

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    [Credits] This page was modified on July 8, 1996.  [Chicago Requiem]