Resources
House Rules - Mission Statement

Here’s the section where I stand up and give an accounting of what I intend for the game. My intent is to be as minimalist as possible with the NPCs. This game is going to see your characters as the primary protagonists of the story; which means that I need you to put some thought into your character reasons for coming to the Elysium. If your character wouldn’t or shouldn’t, and you’re not comfortable with having the character attend, then the character is likely part of the kindred population of Toronto who just don’t attend. The characters present are the one that have decided for whatever reasons that they’re better off by attending Elysium than avoiding it. Elysium is the centre of Kindred society, and to help highlight this status will work on the principle of what you’re character is know for being able to do or provide.

Back to the point of exactly what you can expect from me - I’m so impressed with the Blue Book and the work that White Wolf did with this one that I’m going to reference the 10 Storyteller Commandments for you. This is basically the assumptions you can make about me and what to expect from my storytelling of this game. The full points for these commandments can be found on pages 280-1.

1. Story First, Rules Second.
2. Involve Players Whenever Possible.
3. Be Aware of Players’ Expectations.
4. Work Things out in Advance.
5. Set the Stage.
6. Avoid Stereotypes.
7. Be Fair to Your Setting.
8. Don’t Tell Them Everything.
9. Don’t Abuse Your Power.
10. Don’t Panic.

While I plan to do everything in my power to ensure that the characters of this game are validated, I need all of you to recognize that you also have an obligation. This is interactive theatre, and for it to really work all players have to realize that in some small part they are responsible for ensuring that everyone around them is having fun as well. Characters that are bastards are acceptable, but if you go over the top with such a character people will no longer be interested in playing with you. Ensuring that the other players are also having fun is actually a selfish goal because it will likely result in you having fun as well.

A request that I’m going to make of the entire player cast, and we should thank White Wolf for succinctly putting this list together for us, is to at least read this list over once and try and keep in mind when you get into game. For a full write up on each of these points please refer to pages 184 and 185 of the Blue Book.

1. It’s Only a Game.
2. Don’t be a Jerk.
3. Trust Your Storyteller.
4. Be Honest.
5. Stay In-Character in a Game Session.
6. Take an Active Role.
7. Avoid “Perfect” Characters.
8. Embrace the Mystery.
9. Come Prepared.
10. Make the Game Fun for Everyone.

The setting I’m attempting to emulate is one like our own world, the difference being that things are a little darker, a little more violent. What this means to questions of what characters can get their hands on is as follows: we’ll be going with the default normal equipment setting found in the Blue Book. This would cover access for those characters capable of such to small hand guns, and the like, but nothing more exotic than that. As we’re going to be playing a game set in Canada, this means that the police will take a rather hard stance against gun use, and the typical response is to have the ETF respond to any instance in which a gun has been seen.

The structure for play time during the month is as follows, Game Night, then two weeks later a downtime/tabletop like session. At Game Night or in the following week I'll accept your downtime actions. If I feel that it warrants a scene, I'll contact you and let you know that I need you to attend the downtime. Otherwise that will be a free night for you. Players are still welcome to attend the downtime if they'd like to meet up with other players.