1. The Venue Style Sheet
2. Creating the Local History
3. The City Book

The Venue Style Sheet

Benefits of the Venue Style Sheet

Each sanctioned venue hosted by your chapter must have a Venue Style Sheet that has received High Approval. They help us weave our stories and games into a single chronicle. A well-written VSS has the following characteristics:

• Defines the structure and history of the local venue
• Matches the interests of the local player base
• Describes the styles of play
• Informs new and visiting players about the venue’s mood and theme
• Becomes a living record of the local game

This section discusses the concepts behind venue style sheets and how to use them in your game. You’ll find a blank VSS form in Appendix A and sample venue style sheets in Appendix B.

Talk with Your Players about Styles of Play

When starting a new venue, ask your players what kind of games interest them.  It’s often a good idea to take a blank Venue Style Sheet to a meeting and talk about the styles of play with your players.

Talk about the categories for a while. Often, a lively discussion occurs. Then, ask each of your players to rate the categories on a simple 1-5 scale:

• 1 = Never Present
• 2 = Sometimes Present
• 3 = Often Present
• 4 = Usually Present
• 5 = Always Present

Be aware that there are no right answers to these questions. Different players will probably be interested in a different styles of play. Ultimately, your venue style sheet should offer a range of stories that matches your storytelling skills and your players’ collective interest.

Complete the Venue Style Sheet

Once you have talked with your players, it’s time to start filling out the the Venue Style Sheet. The form is divided into four basic conceptual areas.

At this point, you should be ready to complete the first three parts of the VSS. So, let’s focus on Part 4:Storytelling Mechanics. The purpose of this section is to itemize any general policies that all players should know about. These include the following possibilities:

Special Venue Emphasis: Most games are open to all characters in the venue. However, a few games in our chronicle focus on a subset of characters in the venue (for example, anarchs, elders, Ravnos, or cubs.) If this is your first venue sheet, we recommend you stay away from having a special venue emphasis. Learn how to integrate your game with the Sanctioned Chronicle.  If you choose to create a venue with a special emphasis, please remember that your should keep games open and accessible to all players. If the character fits the main venue, there are often ways that it can fit within a game with a special venue emphasis.

Proxy Rules: Establish how you will accept proxies and what you require. Basic guidelines exist in the Prime supplement. For more ideas, see Proxies in Chapter 6.

Travel Risks: Some venues are more difficult to reach than others. Remember that as an organization we encourage our members to travel to other games. Do not make your game an isolated outpost in the World of
Darkness.

Visiting Character Guidelines: Most Venue Style Sheets state that visiting players must present:

• A complete character sheet with the signature of the player’s ST
• A full XP log
• Approval codes for any special approval items

Experience Awards: Review the general experience award guidelines in Chapter 4 of this document, and ask your supervising storyteller if there are any other guidelines you need to know about. Then, set the venue’s policies in the VSS.

Share the VSS Draft

Once you have written a VSS, we recommend that you show the document to your players and ask for their comments. Listen to their suggestions and modify the sheet accordingly.

Then, submit the VSS to your supervising storytellers. They may request a few changes, so your venue fits with other nearby venues. Mostly, they will just need a record of your chapter’s venue and its policies. If you are starting a new venue, it’s a good idea to submit the VSS before your chapter’s first game.

Publicize the VSS

Once the Venue Style Sheet is complete, publicize it and get the word out.  Your VSS is a great way to announce the start of a new venue. You can send the VSS by email, publish it on a website, or print it in your chapter’s newsletter.  Many chapters place copies of their VSS at each game’s OOC sign-in table. That way, new and visiting players can read the VSS and know about the game.

Review the VSS

The Venue Style Sheet is a living document that should be reviewed with your players on a regular basis. We recommend that you review the VSS at the following times:

• Whenever there is a change in lead storyteller for the venue
• If you get a number of new members in your chapter–ask them for their input
• Every six months, even if nothing else has changed

Check the VSS and see how well the game has matched the styles described in the VSS. If you see a difference, you might want to adjust the storylines or adjust the metrics in the Style of Play section.

New storytellers should review the current VSS as one of their first tasks.  Each storyteller has a different storytelling style, and it’s a good idea to make sure the VSS reflects your style.

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Creating the Local History

Our Sanctioned Chronicle is a rich, complex story that ties hundreds of cities and thousands of characters together. While this may sound like a huge canvas, there is plenty of room for your city’s chronicle. A good city history shapes your chronicle and offers years of entertainment for your players.

We believe that each new city should be able to develop its own background and history. When designing your city’s history, we just ask that you contact your supervising storyteller to make sure it fits with the larger chronicle.  We recommend that you:

• Learn the city’s real-world history
• Contact your supervising storyteller to learn about nearby chronicles and major storyline events
• Review White Wolf city-building resources (especially Laws of the Night: Camarilla Guide pgs. 149-185)
• Draft your city history and share it with other storytellers for their input

Developing the Details

Designing a good history requires finding balance. Use a less-is-more attitude: the less you put in, the more room you will have to work with later. Your city is better off as a work-in-progress than as an unchangeable monument. Simply establish the main elements and prepare the stage; you can work out details as they become significant in chronicle. Write a basic outline of what has happened in the city’s history, covering the following points:

• Historical figures
• Historical events
• Supernatural figures who have affected history
• Player’s version of history
• Storyteller’s version of events

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Should I use NPCs to fill local positions, if there are not enough player characters?

It is not necessary for the storyteller to make NPCs for all leadership roles.  You don’t have to have a full primogen council, a sheriff, keeper, harpy, seneschal, and Prince for your city to be complete. Rather, let your players work out who earns the positions and focus on story for your players. They are the stars of the chronicle, so do not steal their fun by creating overpowering NPCs that hold all the star roles.

Q: Do all Influences need a certain NPC behind them, such as a mayor for Politics or a desk sergeant for Police influence?

Most storytellers detail only a few mortal residents of their city. Let the players’ actions shape what NPCs you design. If you find you need a background NPC, make one up. If you need it again, then you can flesh it out more.

Q: Do we have to use the city we live in for our setting? If so, can we make it more populous?

If you are going to be involved in the Sanctioned Chronicle, you will need to set your chronicle within the thirty-mile radius assigned to your chapter or domain.

If your chapter is located in a small town, your chronicle shouldn’t suffer.  The Camarilla does everything possible to ensure that characters are not penalized because of where the member lives. For example, the Camarilla does not enforce the kindred-to-kine ratios set by White Wolf.

Only in cases where your city is very small should you consider increasing the population or basic real-world structure. Even then, consult your supervising storyteller and exercise moderation.

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The City Book

A City Book can help your city and its history come alive. To create the City Book, you and your players will describe the key places where characters gather. Each of these places becomes a Stage for character interaction.

The Elements of a Stage

We’ve created a simple form for you to create Stages. While you’re not required to use the form, we think it’s a good way to compile all the information you will need for the setting. The Stage listing includes the following categories:

• Stage name
• Location
• IC controlled by
• Created OOC by
• Date of ST approval
• Description
• Confidential ST notes

This section talks about how to use the City Book and Stages. You’ll find a blank Stage form in Appendix A and sample Stages in Appendix B.

Choose the Stages

Think about the types of settings you will need for the game. A basic list might include:

• Places of power (a caern, elysium, court, or freehold)
• Well-known places (city landmarks, nightclubs, or a coffeeshop)
• Private meeting areas (ranting grounds, pack haven, or the “abandoned warehouse”)
• Dark corners (warrens, abandoned warehouses, realms)
• Antagonist hideouts (BSD hives, hunters’ headquarters, technocracy’s fortress)

Unless you have an established chronicle, your first list might be pretty bland.  Your task will be to make these simple stages come alive for your players.  A beginning City Book might include eight stages initially, but it can easily expand as the chronicle grows.

Tie Stages to the City’s History

Each stage should be described vividly in the City Book and have a story or two tied to it. If the location has been in the city for some years, how does it fit with the city history? Well-developed settings energize your players, spark their imaginations and help set the mood of the game. Compare these two stages:

A: The Prince calls a meeting at the bank building downtown

B: The Prince calls a meeting at the First Commerce bank, where the city’s first Prince, Michael Eisen, seized power in 1870. His rival, Ludwig the Wanderer, was thrown from the rooftop, landed on the construction scaffolding below, and burnt in the morning sun.

History can make a setting come alive. So, if you’ve developed a good history, be sure to tie it in to your chronicle’s stages.

Ask Your Players for Ideas

Sometimes players will have ideas for stages that interest them. Encourage players to participate in the City Book project. For example, Tremere players may want to design a chantry for their characters. They might begin by telling you about its traps, tricks, and wards, but guide them to tell you the story of the chantry:

• What does the building look like?
• Who orginally owned it?
• Where is it located?
• Was it remodeled?
• What are their neighbors like?
• Does the chantry subscribe to the daily paper?
• Who answers the door when Avon calls or FedEx delivers a package?
• Who is the registered owner of the property?
• Whose name is on the utility bills?

There are a lot questions that you could ask players, but your goal should be to evoke stories. Don’t overburden players with questions, but get them to think of the stage as a real place.

Make sure that each setting is fully approved before being entered into the City Book. Just because a player decides that his coffeehouse will have concealed combat shotguns that can spray the entire room with silver-plated dragons breath rounds doesn’t mean that you have to approve their entry for the City Book, in whole or in part.

Find a Picture

When building a stage, it’s a good idea to have a picture or two, if you can find them. Whether this means heading out with a camera to take a picture of a building exterior or an empty meadow, they are worth collecting. Remember, you can also find pictures for your City Book on the Web.

Use the Stages to Spark Stories

When planning a game, flip through the City Book until you find a setting that fits the story. Then, on game night, use that City Book entry to describe the setting to your players.

Not every setting has to be steeped in history. After all, sometimes an abandoned warehouse is only an abandoned warehouse. Every city needs a variety of stages, some grand and impressive, others small and intimate. But if they have a living history, your players will feel its presence as they step onto the live-action stage.

If you keep storyteller-only information in the City Book, be sure that players don’t have access to it.

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