Character Death
This is a Player vs Player game (PVP) and as such there is the expectation that characters may attempt to bring about one another’s downfall. Characters may be exiled, find final death, or even be Diablerised. Whatever the cause, the following rules apply.
There has been much discussion about whether these rules are needed and so it feels necessary to clarify our reason for putting these rules in place. Vampire by its nature is a heavily PVP game, perhaps more so than any other, and without this set of rules there would be ambiguity in this space - meaning that we have no means by which to hold players to account for PVP activities. For example, Tom’s character was killed by Sandra’s character and so Tom makes a new character who discovers that Sandra murdered his old character and so while there is no motive Tom decides to try and ambush and kill Sandra’s character for revenge. Without a codified set of rules there is nothing formal that could prevent Tom from undertaking this course of action and claim some IC reasons to justify the action. We believe that this ambiguity is more likely to lead to ill will between players and encourage toxic behaviour in the community and that by codifying these rules should help avoid potential OC conflicts.
Characters Lost in Downtime
There are a number of threats, both PVP and PVE which may result in the death of a character or result in them being unplayable for another reason.
If this occurs in downtime, then the ST team will contact the player and inform them that it is no longer possible to play their character. Initially no details of the nature of what happened to the previous character will be provided, and the processing of their downtime will halt and be replaced with a new character generation process. The player will then be given a choice of two options:
Continuation Character: If the player wishes to try and discover what happened to their previous character they can opt to create an affiliated character; sire, childe, ghoul, long-time ally or other associate, who now wishes to investigate and discover the source of their previous character’s fate… alongside their own aims of course. If this is the choice made, then the player can make a new character with this intent and will be allowed to pursue that course of action. The ST team will not provide any further information about the fate of the previous character and the new character will be able to turn up at the next session to introduce themselves.
Should the new continuation character’s actions (or other character’s actions) result in the original character becoming playable again, then the ST team will discuss with the player which of the two characters they wish to continue playing.Let it Go: If the player makes this choice then they relinquish any option to pursue vengeance against any parties who might have been involved in the fate of their previous character. They will then create a new character and the ST team will subtly work to avoid allowing an opportunity for the player to come into direct conflict with any PCs who may have been involved in the fate of their last character.
If the player wishes closure on their previous character, they may request that the ST team share more about what happened to the character. The ST team may choose to share more details about the events, but these may be limited and will be on the condition that such details are not shared with others.
If at any point the player or their new character learns IC about what happened to their previous character, they will need to make a decision based on the new character’s motives to decide how to deal with this. At this point the player should discuss this with the ST team to ensure that if they do take any action which could be considered an act of revenge (even passing it onto others who might take that action) that it is justifiable within the motives of the new character. Acting on this information without discussing this with the ST team would be considered contravening their decision to ‘Let it Go’ and breaking the social contract with the ST team.
Characters Lost in Session
If a character is killed or made unplayable in session then it is likely obvious to the player what led to this outcome. Therefore, if this was the result of PVP, the player will only be provided with Option 2: Let it Go as detailed above. This is the inherent benefit of undertaking PVP in session, that it removes an enemy from the board without the possibility of another picking up the mantle of revenge, but obviously comes with increased risk as it is likely to be a lot more difficult to kill another character at a busy event.
The one additional consideration when contemplating taking a PVP action against another character in session is to try and ensure that it does not impact too significantly on the other player’s session. First of all there are cool ways to lose a character and there are not so cool ways, giving your opponents the opportunity to lose their character in a cool manner is always good for the game and for the players.
Similarly, attempting to assassinate another character, stake them, kidnap them or in some other way make them unplayable early in a session is disrespectful to both the player who loses the character and the ST team who then have to resolve the matter alongside running the session. We appreciate deaths may happen at any point in a session as a result of gameplay, but if you have any control over when it might happen we would ask that you be respectful and use the opportunity to build narrative, anticipation and perhaps an interesting climax that will add to the theatre of the game and allow people to tell positive stories about it for years to come.