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!