Behind the Scenes: Workload

One thing that gets asked us every once in a while is, "Just how much work does go into Shades of Norwich?"

Well, here's a rough estimate of what went into the period between the first two games of this academic year: 29th September 2012 and 10th November 2012. Note: all numbers are approximate!

Downtimes:

43 downtimes received and responded to, in which there were...

32,828 words written by players
71,400 words written by the STs
...which makes 104,228 words of downtimes total.

STs on the boards:

We had 20 queries from players, and had 8 new players join the game.

In addition to queries from players, the STs are very active behind the scenes. In this period there were approximately 25-30 separate active threads on a variety of topics, including discussing current plots, planning new plots rules, creating NPCs and pregenned characters, drafting newsposts and discussing rules.

This is the state of the ST area of the board, as of 16/11/2012...

Face-to-Face meetings:

As well as interacting a whole bunch on the boards, us STs make sure to have proper meetings to discuss the happenings in Shades of Norwich. Between September 29th and November 10th we had 3 official "ST Meetings", totalling about 10-12 hours. Of course, this doesn't include the time we spend together in a non-ST capacity, during which any one of us is likely to utter the words:


"I know this isn't an ST meeting, but..."

At least half of the ST team managed to escape on a holiday for one whole week!

Why are we telling you this?

We endeavour to respond to player queries in a timely and efficient manner - we know it can be stressful to send off emails and hear nothing back. We also try to make sure all our players are getting the most out of the game. But as you can see, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes.

If you would like to ask us about something, to make your query go as efficiently as possible make sure to email us at shadesofnorwich@yahoogroups.com - however quicker it seems to ask us face-to-face or via another site, trust us, it's best to email!

Further posts may delve into the specifics of what happens to a query that gets sent in, or how we respond to downtimes, but for now, know that whatever we're doing, we're probably doing a lot of it...

As a final note, we wanted to show how much we love Shades of Norwich. We do all we can to give a strong framework for players to interact with - and it's worth it. We have an immense amount of fun doing all of the above!

Feeding: There's no right way, but there are wrong ways (for you)!

Picture this:

A tall, broad vampire, trained in the art of combat and stealth, feeds by... charming pretty young socialites at posh parties.

Maybe this tall, dark and mysterious vampire also has the social stats to support that method of feeding...but maybe they don't.

There are lots of different ways of getting your daily dose of Vitae. We've thought up a few common possibilities, though there are far more options! Feast your eyes on the below...

Feeding Strategies:

All the Right Parties: This Kindred prefers to be on the edges of their preferred social scene, be it débutante balls, house parties, raves, or model railway clubs, and feeds from the kine that come to know and trust them.  Good Manipulation is a must here, as well as Empathy, Socialise and an appropriate Skill to match with the social group in question.  (Academics for chess enthusiasts, Crafts for railway modellers, and so on...) Majesty can really grease the wheels using this method.

Because I'm Fabulous: This Kindred works on a least effort approach - why hunt your prey when you can make them want to come to you.  It's all about being desireable yet approachable - a difficult balance to strike, but one that can get you rich rewards if you can pull it off.  Good Presence and Manipulation are a must, along with Persuasion and Socialise. Dominate  And, of course, Striking Looks and Resources never hurt this approach. Again, Majesty is a big plus.

Clubs, Drunks and Drugs: Ah, the intoxicated Kine. So easy to hunt! Perhaps you'd offer to walk a couple of party-goers home and feed as you go - which would require Manipulation, Persuasion, Socialise and Subterfuge to appear trustworthy. Or perhaps you snag people in dark corners of the club for a speedy feed - in which case, Brawl, Stealth, Socialise and Strength would all come in handy. However, it's important to note that feeding from inebriated vessels does have an effect on the Kindred in question - they will feel somewhat inebriated themselves until the blood leaves their system.

If You Can't See Me...: Stealth, Obfuscate, Subterfuge, with Dexterity and Composure to match. This Kindred sneaks up on its prey - perhaps with some additional Larceny they break into houses and feed on sleeping victims; perhaps with a small amount of Brawl they jump people in dark alleyways. Dominate could come in handy, making sure victims don't scream or not remembering the entire experience.

Time for a Beating: Thugs, criminals, or perhaps people who are just there - these Kindred feed using violence. Strength, Stamina, Brawl or Weaponry, plus some Athletics to chase down quicker prey are all essential. If the Kindred wants to scare their prey into submission, Intimidate or Nightmare would be very useful, and Streetwise helps them track the prey down in the first place. Some Kindred may lighten their preys' wallets to make it look like a mugging, but beware - it's a Humanity 7 sin to do so. Of course, all those beatings are likely to cause Humanity issues somewhere along the line...

The Noah's Ark Approach: For Kindred of Blood Potency 2 or below (or in possession of certain abilities that allow them to always feed on animals), it can be easier to feed on unsuspecting animals. Whether this is urban or rural hunting, Animal Ken is an absolute must. Survival, Stealth and Athletics will also make things much easier. Perhaps you might set traps, using Crafts and Survival. Without a doubt, Animalism will help. Without Animalism 1, all animals will react strangely towards Kindred, and feeding on animals will always be more difficult without it.

Why do it Myself?: Ah, retainers. So very useful. A social-primary ghoul could be your source of Vitae, if they attracted prey and then brought it to you. This allows a Kindred to feed in safety and secrecy without leaving the comfort of their own home.

Trouble Spots

Characters can get into trouble when they use a feeding method that their character sheet doesn't support.

• Someone who lacks the social skills to appear trustworthy or friendly to potential vessels won't be able to get close enough to feed.

• Someone who wants to infiltrate a specialist group such as a neighbourhood watch committee or a hobby group needs to be able to talk the talk on the interest so they don't stand out.

• Feeding on the street requires a familiarity with said streets - otherwise the character may find it difficult to find suitable prey in the first place.

What feeding methods have we left out? Are there any unusual methods you've thought of that we haven't? What do you think of the skills we've flagged up for various methods? Leave your comments below, or email us at shadesofnorwich@yahoogroups.com!

First Impressions: How Not To Get Discouraged

Shades of Norwich can seem big and intimidating if you're new to the game. Not to say that everyone needs hand-holding - some people thrive on new situations and demands - but we know that if a game seems too monolothic or confusing it can be really offputting.

For a start, the Player's Guide can be really useful: The Shades of Norwich Player's Guide 2012/13
(Also linked further down the page)

Straight after the game
Hopefully you're excited and raring to go, but here are a few steps that might help. Out of them, e-mailing the Storytellers and joining the Board really are the most important.

- E-mail us! (shadesofnorwich@yahoogroups.com) We're lovely and we want to hear from you if you'd like to continue playing your character. We can guide you through the next steps much better via e-mail. If you like your character just fine, want to change their background, goals, stats or expand on them, we want to know and help. If you don't feel the character's for you, that's also fine and we'd like to guide you through making a new one that suits you better! And if you don't really want to come back, we appreciate being given feedback on the experience, especially for new people.

- Get on the board (http://z6.invisionfree.com/Shades_of_Norwich/index.php?act=idx) and introduce yourself, ask about anything you'd like to look into or get started on. We ask that people use their character's name as their board name so we can set different permissions. It means you can see private rooms to talk to your clan and covenant!

- Follow/'like' us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/shadesofnorwich) and Twitter (@Shades_STs) to have notifications of downtime deadlines and the next game. The Twitter feed is full of silly quotes from the ST meetings whereas the Facebook page is more for notifications. We really are human, promise :)

- Have a look at the player's guide for more setting information, flavour and rules help: The Shades of Norwich Player's Guide 2012/13
(Linked above as well)

Write a Downtime
Downtimes are short to mid-length (or rather long in the cases of some of our players!) descriptions of what your character does between the games. The downtime period covers any amount of time between the games and isn't pinned down to days, weeks or months. It's during the downtime that you can spend experience points to make your character better (you have 7 for the game you attended and get 7 for submitting the downtime, which you can spend in that downtime! Plus 1 xp for posting on the Board).

NB: You can't use things you buy in the downtime period you buy them.

We have a handy downtime guide which should help you with the process of writing downtimes: The Beginner's Guide to Downtimes.

Here are a few shorter tips.

- Get started sooner rather than later on your first downtime. That way you'll be able to e-mail the Shades ST Team about anything that you're having difficulty with or questions you might have. Trying to work out a new downtime system in a panic before a deadline is no fun and full of stress!

- Look at the East Anglian News. If you're on the Shades of Norwich Board you should have access to at least the Headlines newsposts and maybe more if you have certain skills at 2 dots. We often put things for people to work on or investigate in these sections, and some may be caused by player action! It doesn't mean you shouldn't investigate, but you might run into other characters as you do so.

- Asking people if they need help, volunteering for missions posted on the main board or advertising your character's services in the Classifieds can all be helpful - please bear in mind, however, that some offers may be old and some characters might be retired.

- Writing style - downtimes vary hugely from player to player. Some  are distant and just describe what the character is doing, some are like in-character journals and some are like novels (please don't actually send us novels). With the more out of character styles, be careful to add in some justification and appropriate characterfulness and with the more in-character styles, make sure your intention for your character is clear with an out-of-character note at the end of actions.

- Working with other characters can be loads of fun but people also often forget to put in actions or don't have the time. If an action relies on someone else, it's worth putting in a caveat of what your character does if the person doesn't show up to make progress or what they'll do instead of the action they intended.

Above all, if you ever have a question, no matter how silly or minor it might seem, e-mail us and ask. If you're new to the game and get your downtime in a little bit after the deadline, we're likely to be a bit more lenient about processing it than if you were an experienced player (since we have a rule that we will try and process downtimes submitted after the deadline, though they aren't awarded xp). So, no reason to panic!

On Contacts, and why "The World" is too general

The Contacts merit is a funny thing. In our rules area of the board we describe the Contacts merit as:

People tell you things. You choose a field in which you have Contacts, who will provide you with information (or help you uncover it).

We want to make sure that people use their Contacts in the most rewarding way possible - which is why we want to bring up a particular question that sometimes gets asked of Contacts but actually won't be hugely informative for the player character in question...

"What's going on in the world of this Contact's field?"

It's a very common question: it gets asked a lot, and in the past we've given out information as best we can in response. But we're moving away from it for the following reasons:


From Our Perspective

It can be pretty difficult for us to respond to a general question like this. The Shades of Norwich world is a rich tapestry indeed, and though your Contact might well know what's going on in their field, we don't have all its finer details, and it can be difficult for us to know what you are looking for. We don't know if you're looking for plot, flavour, or something else entirely.


From the Contact's Perspective

Imagine you have an interest, and you know someone who occasionally asks you select questions about that field. How would you respond to the question of "What's going on in the world of fly-fishing/whitewater rafting/crocheting/the police/crime?" Would you know how to answer?


We're trying to move towards recognising that your Contacts are real people in the Shades of Norwich world, with motivations and interests of their own. As such, like us, they'll be happier when responding to more specific questions about their interests than general ones.


Other Ways of Getting General Information

Of course, if you really do want to keep an eye on what's going on in certain fields, there's another option available to you: the Newsposts.

The function and content of the Newsposts is a blog post of its own, and they are an amalgamation of reflecting PC and NPC actions, new and developing plots, and general flavour. They, more than anything else, reflect what's going on in various fields.


How to Use Your Contacts

The last thing we want is to tell you what not to ask, without giving you some suggestions and starting points!

Think about what you want from your Contact. Are you...

Looking for plot? If so, the more specific you are, the more we know what kind of plot you would like us to make for you. Some possibilities (which of course depend on whether or not you want these kinds of plots!) might include...

• Contacts (Occult): Do you know any stories of local hauntings of murdered children?
• Contacts (Police): What's the strangest unsolved crime you've got on the books at the moment?
• Contacts (Smugglers): Is anyone in particular snooping around our business?
• Contacts (Anything): Is there anything I can do for you this month?

Looking for a general overview? If so, the most relevant Newspost might be a better option. If you don't have access to that Newspost, you could consider spending XP on the relevant Skill.  Having Academics, Computer, Medicine, Occult, Politics, Science, Socialise or Streetwise at 2 dots or higher gets you access to the Newsposts for that Skill.

Looking for a specific snapshot of a facet of their interest? If so, try to indicate to us what in particular you're interested in - that way, we know what you'd like to hear from us!

• Contacts (Archaeologists): What digs are happening in Norfolk at the moment?
• Contacts (Media): What's your biggest story about the police/socialites/big business/etc?
• Contacts (Crime): What drugs are most popular at the moment?

Are you looking for something else that we haven't discussed here? Please tell us in the comments below - it's all anonymous!

To succeed or not to succeed ... at your downtime action!

Working out whether a character's actions succeed in Shades of Norwich is sometimes straightforward. If we're in uptime, or in a downtime scene, we can turn to card draws.

But what about in downtime?

We've had a couple of players ask us how we decide how successful a given action is in a downtime. The short answer is: it depends on the situation, and it's with some finagling, a bit of faff and the occasional card draw. The longer answer is below, and some things might surprise you more than others...


1. What stats are most appropriate for the given action?

We generally pick a combination of Attributes and Skills we think are appropriate for the action. This all depends on what the character is trying to do - trying to tail someone without being spotted would be Dexterity and Stealth, but their Wits and Investigation would come up too - after all, being super-stealthy doesn't help if you can't spot the person you're trying to tail!

Sometimes, an action might be more complex. Ingratiating yourself into a subculture might be Manipulation and Socialise, but if you're basing a lot of your social power on lies then we would include Subterfuge as a skill of interest, and if you're trying to butter up the University Fellows then Intelligence and Academics will start to come into play as well!

Without a doubt, if you're talking to NPCs, whether human or supernatural, and trying to get information out of them or befriend them in any way ... you're going to want to have some Empathy on your character sheet.


2. What are the character's dots in those stats?

This can be the real kicker - we're all geared up to write a fairly positive response for someone trying to get information from the kids on the local estate by making friends with them because they've got Streetwise 3, but when we check their character sheet we discover they have Presence 1, Manipulation 2, Empathy 3, Persuasion 1 and Socialise 0.

Now, a couple of those stats aren't so bad. With Streetwise 3, the character can find the kids in the first place, and they really know the streets like the kids do. With Empathy 3 they can tell very well whether or not the kids are telling the truth, and what they think of the character. But 1s in Attributes and 0s in skills show that the character is fundamentally bad at that thing. They are below the human average.

Having 1s in Skills is often less of an issue, if the action in question is not unreasonable, and if it isn't particularly risky. But 1s in Attributes are always a flag for us, and we will always pay attention to it. An Attribute at 1 will have more of a negative effect on the success of an action than just having a smaller draw pool!

Back to our example, we'd focus on their Presence 1 and Socialise 0. That's subsantially less than the NPCs they're trying to interact with - after all, the kids know when's best not to swear to adults, and how to fit in at parties with their peers.

So our example character's prospects have gone from looking fairly promising...to suddenly not so good.


3. What factors are there that may affect the character's efforts? 

In almost every situation, to a point, we would rather someone succeed than fail in a downtime action! We look for other factors on the character sheet that might make a difference - in our example above, the character may have Allies or Contacts (Street) of some kind, and if they aren't being used for something very different we might rule that 'word gets around' that the character isn't such a bad person to talk to.

Of course, sometimes there are things going on in the wider world of the game that means that the action might be more difficult than normal. Perhaps the kids are more suspicious of strangers because of the actions of an NPC...or even another PC. We always do our best to ensure that the ripples of one character's actions reach the distant shores of other people's downtimes!


4. What can I do to improve my chances of success?

The most reliable method of improving your chances is buying up relevant Attributes or Skills with your XP.  The STs are generally happy for you to improve an Attribute or Skill as part of an action in which you're using it, so using our example above, we would be happy to approve buying Presence 2 or Socialise 1 from the action.

However, sometimes you need to get something done and don't have the time or XP to buy up the Attribute or Skill before you try to use it.  Under these circumstances, there are other options available.

- Try a different tactic. Perhaps the example character actually has Intimidate 3 - in this instance, though their Presence 1 would still be an issue, if they got information out of the kids by being the tough guy and making a few threats, it might go better for them.

- Get another character involved.  Taking a "good cop, bad cop" approach, or finding someone who makes up for the weaknesses in your character's skill set, can improve your chances of success.

- Use your disciplines.  Dominate, Majesty and Nightmare can all help to move things along in social situations, but will generally increase the chances that your actions will be noticed unless they're used carefully.  Animalism and Auspex open up a wide range of investigative possibilities when used well.  Obfuscate and Protean have a wide range of applications for investigations, stealth and general survival.  Note: Making extensive use of disciplines that cost Vitae or Willpower may affect your starting totals for those traits at the next game, and it's always worth keeping the Masquerade in mind...

- Use Willpower.  This will mean that you start the next game down at least one point of Willpower, but can be a helpful last-ditch effort when you really want something to succeed.  We'll never assume you're spending Willpower in downtime, so if you want to use this option you need to be explicit about the fact that you're using Willpower and how many points you're willing to spend.  Even then, there's only so far it can go to make up for a lack of Skill dots and the knowledge they represent - a character with no dots in Science certainly isn't going to be able to write a ground-breaking physics paper, no matter how much Willpower they spend!

Remember:

Though our example uses a character in a social situation, it's not just social skills that have this issue! A few blind spots we notice skills-wise are things like...

- Being in the wilderness without having Survival/Athletics/Animal Ken
- Doing research with low or no dots in Academics or Investigation
- Trying to bribe people or negotiate deals with no Politics

So when you're planning your downtime actions, if there's anything particularly complex or risky you're doing, or something you've had issues with in the past - think beyond the main stats you think you'd use in a card draw. What else might contribute and are you trained in those things? If you aren't, maybe another method would work better (or you could spend some XP) - if you are, then fabulous!

Welcome to Norwich.

The Mayor seems to think it’s a nice enough place. A bastion of innovative thinking, or so he said in a recent televised speech.

Let’s not dwell on the rumours of his electoral corruption.

The pristine offices of Westlegate House and Sovereign House tower over the rest of the city centre, but as you walk the streets the gap between rich and poor is thrown into sharp relief. The art set and the aristocracy host extravagant parties in country houses and exclusive clubs while kids throw their lives away on drugs, petty gang warfare and the mob.

As for the police, they’re off the rails. In Spring 2012, the chief of the Armed Response Unit shot two suspects dead in cold blood. Other officers have been sacked under scandalous circumstances. You might want to think twice about picking up the phone.

It’s not all bad, here. The Shishigami Dojo tries to keep kids out of trouble and is gaining more and more popularity. Scientific research corporations like Renaissance Technology and the Red Castle Group are keen to employ bright-eyed university graduates for experimental projects.

Not to mention that shadowy figures are always looking for people who won’t be missed, or who won’t ask too many questions.

Norfolk is laid out, ripe for the taking. If you fancy cleaning things up, good luck to you - and be warned: those shadowy figures might not like you stepping on their turf.

But you’re here now, and you’ve got things to do.

Welcome to Shades of Norwich!

Good evening, everyone!

Welcome to the official Shades of Norwich blog. Accept no substitutes! Shades of Norwich is a live-action roleplaying game based on White Wolf's Vampire: the Requiem, situated in the fine county of Norfolk and beyond.

This blog is part of our drive to keep players informed, discuss roleplay, show how the Storytelling Team works, and have fun. Keep your eyes peeled for posts about the game and please feel free to comment!

If you have any questions or there is anything you would like to see explored from behind the scenes, please email at shadesofnorwich@yahoogroups.com.

Please note that Shades of Norwich is a work of fiction, and any similarity to real characters and events is entirely coincidental.


Introducing the Storytellers:


Ellie
Storytelling favourites: Occult mysteries, horror of various genres (cosmic, splatter, survival, gothic, uncanny and much, much more), delving deep into the vampire-specific aspects of the Requiem setting and characters, personal plot and religious/mystical development.

Favourite vampire canon: The big daddy itself, Dracula, and Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (an extrapolation of what would happen if Dracula married Queen Victoria). Also, the good bits of Daybreakers (sci-fi vampiric society consuming itself into extinction).


Fay
Storytelling Favourites: All The Politics, Ever, science technobabble, medical horror and gore.

Favourite Vampire Canon: Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.


Hannah
Storytelling Favourites: Gangs, inner conflict, effects and morality of social Disciplines and blood-bonding, seedy-glitz socialising, slow disintegration of sanity, relationships, social justice, mortal politics, feeeeelings.

Favourite Vampire Canon: The Zephyr Hollis series by Alaya Johnson (vampire-rights activist in 1920s US).


Jarval 
Storytelling Favourites: Inter-Fief politics, mundane investigations, police, the Traditions and breaking them, Cruac, Theban Sorcery and the Coils.

Favourite Vampire Canon: Hunger Like Fire (the Vampire: the Requiem novel, well worth a read), True Blood (in its more horrific, less silly bits).