1. The Role of the Camarilla Storyteller
2. An Overview of Our Sanctioned Chronicle
3. Storytelling in the Sanctioned Chronicle
4. The Storytelling Team

The Role of the Camarilla Storyteller

As a Camarilla storyteller, you are part of a team of storytellers who weave the grand tapestry of the global chronicle. Storytellers often:

• Share ideas for game premises and plotlines
• Discuss ways to interweave stories
• Integrate regional, national, and global plotlines into local games
• Offer each other advice about game-balance
• Make suggestions on how to solve problems

The role of the Camarilla storyteller is to ensure that games are both fun and fair for the players. This is not an easy task, but it is a very important one. It often requires time, creativity, and a lot of patience. Sometimes, you may have to say “no” to a player’s request or even set aside your own character’s interests for the benefit of the overall game.

Storytellers are the chronicle’s guides, but the chronicle ultimately belongs to the players. Our chronicle is player-focused.

• There will always be more players than storytellers
• The characters, not the storytellers, are the stars of our chronicle
• Players build the great stories by interacting with each other

Together with our players, we create the global World of Darkness.

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An Overview of Our Sanctioned Chronicle

The Sanctioned Chronicle consists of hundreds of local games that share a common framework. Local storylines can spead to other nearby cities and even across the world. Also, players travel to other games and interact with each other online. When these things happen, our chronicle comes alive.

There are currently six venues in the Sanctioned Chronicle. Here’s a list of when each venue started in the United States.

These venues are all part of the same Sanctioned Chronicle. However, we’ve learned that the best way to keep each venue balanced is to keep them separate.  Therefore, crossvenue interaction is rare and requires storyteller review, we keep the OWoD separated from the NWoD, as they are two completely different chronicles.

Our chronicle history is based on the World of Darkness described in the White Wolf books; however, there are some important differences that players and storytellers need to know about.  Here’s a brief overview:

White Wolf history after 1900 has, in many cases, been altered for our chronicle.  For example, the Justicars listed in Children of the Night are not the current Justicars in the Sanctioned Chronicle–because they were elected after 1900. Similarly, local sanctioned chronicles do not use the By Night books (such as Chicago By Night). In our continuity, Lodin was never the Prince of Chicago; Chicago has a very different city history.

Finally, the MST may create dark secrets in the pre-1900 continuity. Details and motivations may not be the same as in White Wolf sourcebooks. Rember that even White Wolf sourcebooks often provide contradictory information about key historical points in the World of Darkness. Differert groups have interpreted the same events in very different ways. The MST may provide customized information to characters with high level lores. These minor changes allow the MST to seed chronicle-spanning secrets while remaining close to White Wolf’s established World of Darkness.

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Storytelling  in the Sanctioned Chronicle

If you’ve been a storyteller for an independent troupe or tabletop game, you have probably encountered a lot of the challenges we face as storytellers in the Camarilla. However, here are some key differences that you might not have encountered before:

Size and Scope of Game

Our chronicle is big–really big. In July 2002, we had over five thousand members worldwide. This means that PCs actually populate the World of Darkness. In the Sanctioned Chronicle, PCs greatly outnumber the global total of active NPCs.  The World of Darkness comes to life, but it also means that storytellers must keep a closer eye on overall chronicle balance.

Continuity

When Camarilla storytellers talk about continuity, they’re often referring to the chronicle’s consistency from game to game. For example, the Camarilla Justicars should be the same in every Cam/Anarch venue–regardless of whether you’re playing in Atlanta, London, or Manila.

In a troupe game, continuity is sometimes an issue, but in the global game it becomes very important. Managing continuity is much like conducting an orchestra.  If everyone focuses and stays together, our chronicle can be like a symphony.  If continuity strays, things can become out-of-tune and off-beat very quickly.

Shared Knowledge

Players can ask difficult questions and want their characters to do unexpected things. As a Camarilla storyteller, you’re not alone. If characters want to visit London, you can refer them to a London storyteller. There’s a global continuity out there, waiting for you and your players.

When it comes to storytelling and rules questions, you have access to:

• The Camarilla’s Rules Supplements
• General storytelling lists
• Individual storytelling lists for each venue’s settings, plots, and rules

The Camarilla storytelling team consists of hundreds of active storytellers.  All you have to do is ask, and they will be ready to help. You can subscribe to any of the lists at http://listmx.mindseyesociety.org/mailman/listinfo/.  Just follow the online instructions.

Special Approval Requirements

In the World of Darkness, some types of characters are supposed to be very rare. Since we have thousands of players, we’ve designed a system to help keep the game balanced. Our special request process applies to certain rare and unique:

• Character concepts
• Character elements
• Items

Each venue supplement identifies the level of authority needed for approval within the venue. During the review process, several levels of storytellers may evaluate the concept and whether it fits with the overall game. We believe that special character concepts should add to the story and make the game more fun for everyone.

Rare NPCs

We encourage storytellers to use creativity when developing their cities and NPCs. However, some NPC types require special levels of approval before they can appear in a venue. These rules are included in each venue supplement.

We’re not trying to restrict the productive creativity of our local storytellers. Rather, we want to make sure that these rare NPCs fit with our overall chronicle. If you want to use a rare type of NPC, review the NPC rules for the venue and contact your supervising storyteller. Often, you will find ways to link your ideas with NPCs already in the chronicle.

Plotlines

When you and your players participate in the Sanctioned Chronicle, you become involved in a global story.  You will have the opportunity to share your city’s storylines with other cities, and you’ll also be able to share their storyline ideas. Our chronicle is built by players and storytellers across the world.

When it comes to plotlines, we have found that it’s good to practice moderation.  Events that might seem normal for an independent troupe game often produce much larger ripples in our chronicle. We recommend the “National News” guideline for plotlines and events. If an event would receive more than one minute of coverage on the national evening news, the story is probably too big.  If a story might become this large, contact your supervising storyteller.

Players outside of your area may hear about events and may want to become involved.  If so, you should coordinate with both these players and their storytellers.

Language and Culture

Due to the international scope of our chronicle, we sometimes work with storytellers who live far away from us. Therefore, we need to respect differences in time zones, culture and language. Not everyone speaks or thinks the same way, so it is a good idea to be very careful with your tone in e-mail–especially if the recipient’s primary language is different than your own. Respect and patience can lead to amazing rewards.

Teamwork

Camarilla storytellers are a team of storytellers dedicated to the entertainment of our players. Because of our club’s global scope, we have developed a structure that defines each storyteller’s roles and responsibilities. We use this structure to provide consistency and fairness to our players. The Camarilla’s Sanctioned Game is not a thousand small games; it is an integrated global game. We believe that once you experience the global game, you and your players will love what it has to offer.

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The Storytelling Team

We have talked about the storytelling team. Let’s take a look at how it actually comes together:

Please be aware that this table gives only a brief overview of each storytelling level, specifically those within the United States. These listings should not be considered complete job descriptions..

We encourage all levels of storytellers to hire assistants. An assistant’s duties and area of authority is defined by the supervising storyteller. If you ever have questions about what an assistant can do, ask that person’s supervising storyteller.

Some affiliate nations do not have regional storytelling levels, while others use different names for the local storytelling positions. This is why the rules supplement uses very general names for approval levels (Low, Mid, High, and Top).

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