Rules Changes

In V:tM, the basic unit of measure is the Trait. One’s prowess in a particular field is measured by not only the amounts, but also the nature of the Traits in question. Due to the nature of Traits, sometimes they are applicable, sometimes not. We feel that these natures can give one an interruptive amount of pause when trying to resolve a Challenge. Therefore, Inquiry will not use Trait natures. They are simply statistics. In order to balance out the loss of role-playing aid provided by Trait natures, players can expect to find ample character descriptions in the character backgrounds. GMs will deal with circumstances where Trait natures are explicit parts of the rules on an individual basis. In most cases, all side-effects can be set to work in the general category of Trait statistic in question.

Negative Traits will not be used, but will be present in the character sheet and background as a role-playing guide.

In general, Elder characters tend to be of 8^th or 9^th generation and have the power to wield Advanced or lower Disciplines. Ancillae characters tend to be 10^th or 11^th generation and have the power to wield Intermediate or lower Disciplines. Neonate characters tend to be 12^th or higher generation and have the power to wield Basic Disciplines. However, this is the norm and exceptions to this are almost common.

Challenges between single players will be resolved as per V:tM rules. Challenges involving more than a couple of characters will be arbitrated by GMs using a mathematically based system, the details of which are not going to be published. Each player will have a Power score, which the GM will take into account when calculating the combat results. Though seemingly unfair at first glance, we feel this system to be accommodating to the flow of the game as it better approximates real-time actions with the general combat value of a character. It also allows the player to concentrate more on role-playing and less on their character sheet, which is an important focus of the game.

The Power Scores will be generated in the following fashion:

Status will be used as per the V:tM rules. Players are encouraged to report incidents that occur "in game" which merit changing a PC’s Status.

Surprise will not be given as per the V:tM rules. Rather, players are encouraged to decide amongst themselves when a player has the surprise advantage. Of course, if there are discrepancies, one can always ask a GM to arbitrate.

So that the game may have a better structure for social interaction, Blood Bonds will give the holder an amount of Social Traits to use against the Thrall. The amount of Social Traits varies with the level of Blood Bond and the Thrall supernatural nature.

Unless a situation is specifically otherwise, all non-full Blood Bonds fade over time unless kept up, as per the V:tM rules.

As a role-playing guide, players should play the Blood Bond effect with the following intensities:

Players will not receive experience as per the V:tM rules as such. Instead of receiving an allocation of points to be used as they wish, a player would receive bonuses in the form of extra Traits, Abilities, or Influences as per appropriate to their character’s actions. For instance, if a character spend a large amount of effort and time researching in the library at a local college, the character is much more likely to receive extra University Influences than they are Physical Traits. If a player wishes to specify to the GMs that their effort is to be spent in specific areas in an attempt to increase their prowess in that area, then the GMs will take it into consideration. In general, gaining new Disciplines will not be a character goal that is within the scope of the game. Where a character is close to achieving new feats of vampiric Disciplines, it will be so noted in the character’s background.

Players can expect to get on average the equivalent of 1 Experience Point per game. Of course, more bonuses will be given to those who contribute quality and quantity to the game. This is of course at the GMs discretion, but allocations are always negotiable. If a player feels the GMs have overlooked or underestimated one’s contributions, then they are encouraged to discuss the matter politely with the GMs. We stress politely. It is never the GMs intention to use bonuses unfairly, but we do realize that mistakes are made occasionally. We’re more than willing to work through them with you.

Time is real time, unless otherwise noted by a GM. Efforts will be made to make game time as close to real time as possible, although in some situations, this will not be possible (some combats, for instance). Also, if characters leave a game location to perform in-game actions, they should expect to have to sit out of game for a proportional amount of time.

GMs will play all NPCs. Players will not be allowed to be accompanied by NPCs. This is to maintain the visual consistency of the game reality, preventing players’ possible confusion. Thus, a vampire character may have a Ghoul in service. However, unless played by a PC or a GM, that Ghoul is assumed to not be present with the vampire at the moment.

In Inquiry, Influences will be used in a significantly different manner. In order to add an element of strategy, players can choose to either use their Influences as per the V:tM rules (with some minor modifications to the scale of the usefulness of each unit of Influence) or they can use them as a pawns in the Inquiry Influence Game Board (IBG), a board game based upon the characters’ influence over the city (this will include NPCs as well as PCs). Players may choose to one or the other, but not both. This is to accommodate players who do not feel they have the time or inclination for a regular e-mail based activity.

Played over e-mail (with moves once per month, alternating every 2 weeks with game sessions), players can perform actions with their influences such as gathering information, make money, or sacrifice themselves in an influence war with other influences. Also, the GMs will give out location-based city information to players with influences an appropriate area. Note that the preceding is not an exhaustive list of actions PCs can take with their Influences (players are free to convince us of new and interesting action their Influence might take) – the full rules to this game will be specified in another document.

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