So it's going to take me a while to put the city's fleshed out-ness up so feel free to use this as a place to talk, gripe, discuss ties, whatever you want.

btw, just because, the name of the city is up for discussion. NAME THE PAVEMENT!!! :p

And,..... Go!

I humbly suggest Swansea.

Crossham, pronouced "CROSS-am"

So are these the only two options being presented?
If they are, then I'm going to just put out the Portland/Vancouver area. Real world city, built almost identically to the town here.

I gave you a link last night to a generator which creates tons of lovely little village, town, and suburb names. If you like, I can give you an implausibly long list of possibilities, but having offered the aforementioned link, I didn't really think it necessary to suggest a single idea.

Either way, I'm not especially hung up on the name. I'm more interested in finding out how characters are shaping up.

Indeed... ROLL CALL!!!!
Let's see if we can get some basic ideas about what's out there in peoples' minds. I don't care if it hasn't been approved yet, let's see what's being thought up.

Side Note -- I'm seeing about getting some people from off site to come and play with us so there might be a few new faces soon. Ish. Anyways, back to the whos and whats.

Hyoseph -- Clanless Deity -- Sanctified Circle of the Unconquered Dragon's Experiment...

Hai!

Angelina Rosetti, doctor-in-training turned Mekhet vampire of Ordo Dracul!

Looking at a Gangrel also in Ordo Dracul - never made a character in the new WoD though so I am finding if difficult to make my concept work. I'll be working with Joani to tie our PCs together somehow.

Question: Have I missed something or does nWoD no longer have Bonus Points?

Yep, no more Bonus points. Just Merits, which are more like old Backgrounds and Merits combined, really. And Flaws don't give more Merit points either...even if they're used...and they're explicitly listed as being optional.

So character creation's simpler...

Concept
Attributes
Skills

And then the vampiric stuff like Disciplines.

Then, finally, Merits.

Yeah that's where the Concept -> Character process is hitting the bumpy road. I had thought I could sqeeze enough points to make a vamp who was old-ish (maybe 150-200 years) and also fairly far along the coils but the lack of backgrounds and the higher exp costs in nWoD are kicking that concept apart. I'm going to have to choose one or the other I guess.

Ooh yeah. There's a table somewhere that lists suggested experience points for various ages of vampire.

An oldster like that would need more than 50, for sure.

I think 35exp represents a fairly young, but experienced vampire. 50 isn't that much more than that. I don't recall the specifics sadly, and the book isn't available to me at the moment.

Oh oh. As far as vampire ages go, it's also very valuable to check out the sections on Blood Potency and Torpor. They work very differently than before now. A vampire of 200 years could -easily- be explained as being 50 exp...if he'd regressed during torpor. As most do eventually, because the longer a vampire stays active, the more demanding his need for blood becomes. 200 years would increase blood potency by 4 dots, which would put some vamps up to the point where they needed to feed on other vampires to live.

At that level, many vamps will enter torpor voluntarily...as torpor will bleed off their potency. It weakens them, in terms of power, but makes their existences more sustainable.

OK that helps, thanks. As I said I've never created a character in nWoD and the last time I looked at these books was when I purchased them back at their release, read them once to see how different the new system was then popped them on a shelf.

I guess I'll have to compromise and either be new to the Ordo or have some level of coils but be a fairly inexperienced vampire otherwise - probably the former.

Keep in mind that Vampires have eternity and thus tend to procrastinate. A vampire with average abilities (with a one or two rather high ones) would not be uncommon even without the need for Torpor.

Simply put, they have forever, so most tend to not be in a rush learn everything all at once.

However, with the character being as old he/she is Lily'd idea of Torpor is excellent.

Even with 50XP in nWoD any character with a dice pool in the 7-8 mark is a force to be reckoned with in thier chosen field. Age doesn't always equate to 'all knowing'.

Thanks for the advice I should clarify that in addition to my first chance to play nWoD it's also my first time playing vampire in any form.

Hopefully I'll have something worked out by week's end.

Larry Peat, Noseferatu Crone and tattoo artist, also something of a Whip.

Actually, WW took steps to avoid the "all knowing elder" idea. There's what's called the "Fog of Eternity" which basically says that the time spent in torpor has a nasty habit of messing with one's memories. So SURE, you may remember being with Charlemagne and all that. You just may remember it completely differently from someone who was awake the whole time.

Rabbi David Berg, Mekhet Lancea Sanctum, at your service.

No name yet but concept is started to set-up.

Gangrel; newly inducted into the Ordo Dracul. Originally either tribal African or Polynesian/pacific islander, embraced some time ago. Is now a professional musician, specifically a drummer.

I think somebody mentioned owning a club or something of the sort so maybe our characters know each other, had I performed there. Reasonable chance that I would know any other members of the Ordo as well I would think.

May the characters make use of the rule in the V:tR rule book that allows them to trade humanity for for XP? (Trade 2 points for 10XP, or one point for 5XP)

For those of you who need one. Here is the V:tR sheet I use at home for quickly making NPCs. It works well as a character sheet also. It should save some of you the time of having to scribble all this up yourselves.

Name:
Clan:
Covenant:
Virtue:
Vice:
Embrace:
Apparent Age:

Attributes
Mental:
Intelligence - 1, Wits - 1, Resolve - 1
Physical:
Strength - 1, Dexterity - 1, Stamina - 1
Social:
Presence - 1, Manipulation - 1, Composure - 1

Skills
Mental Skills (-3):
Physical Skills (-1):
Social Skills (-1):

Other Traits
Merits:
Willpower:
Humanity:

Health:
Initiative:
Defense:
Speed:
Blood Potency:
Disciplines:
Sorcery or Paths:
Vitae/per Turn:

Equipment:

rock on - thanks man!

Question for the ST - since Joani and I have an close established history is it acceptable for us to pool merit points for a Haven we both control?

I don't want to step on Hyo's toes, so don't assume I'm right, but it states in the Vamp book that you are permitted to do that. Pool merits for haven, that is.

If you are willing to take the risk of having others know where your haven is, it is actually a very good idea economically to have a ahared haven.

(5 people, everyone buys 1 Size, 1 Security, 1 Location. End results is the people in the haven end up with a 5/5/5 haven

Another newb question - The 50 exp we get to start, if I use that to increase a state like Resolve does it increase my Willpower accordingly or not?

It does.

Btw, I'm going to stick with my Gangrel. Ordo Dracul for the protocol.

So is this were the game is taking place? Geographically I mean? I'm going to be from the gulf states so I just need to know so that I can update my background appropriately to get from A to B.

I don't believe it does. As far as I know once a character has been made (i.e. before spending any XP) increases to those attributes do not convey an immediate increase to willpower.

You tally all your scores up, add your template, and then begin the XP spending process paying for increases in WP at 8XP each.

I don't know how Hyo does it though.

Argh...naturally I don't have the book here, but I seem to recall the book mentioning that the -only- way to increase Willpower is to raise the two stats that determine it. That applies during creation and after it.

But I can't back that up...anyone else have the book handy?

I'm at work so no book, but the XP table lists the cost of increasing your WP trait at 8XP per dot. If the only way to increase it was to increase your Composure and Resolve then there would be no need to list an alternate way to increase it via XP.

I'll call Vivi, she's at home today with the books.

Found the quote. As it turns out, both sides are right, in a sense.



It goes on to mention humans and ghouls, but I don't believe either apply for any of us. We are also reminded that XP cannot be spent in the middle of a story, and STs get veto power over any increases.

Some sections bolded for emphasis.

Since willpower can be lost via various methods that do not affect the stats it is initially derived from I would agree with Rev, Psi in Trinity worked this way as well.

My question was really an issue of whether those bonus experience points are used during character creation or "after".

I would certainly not expect to raise Willpower after the game has begun by buying a new dot of Composure or Resolve but that same action before the game starts with out starting Experience may be fair game.

Re: XP

The 50 experience points, in my opinion, are "after character creation." I believe they represent additional time your character has spent training, studying, and improving after their Embrace.

OK so the 8 Exp / Willpower cost is to regain lost dots up to the max of Composure + Resolve.

Wow, that makes so much sense and it actually an intelligent system. I'm liking nWoD even more already!

Thanks sweetie! Lurve j00!

Hurrah!

Thanks muchly.

Dear gods, this is so very, very tempting... (says the inveterate Cam LARP Requiem addict)

I might just have to find a way to crunch out a few more spare minutes in the day and jump into this one.