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General

We use Laws of the Night (3rd Edition, revised), Mind's Eye Theater Camarilla Guide, Mind's Eye Theater Storyteller Guide and One World By Night Rules. Dark Epics rules will be used for armor/weapons statistics unless otherwise noted. Influence rules for downtimes are a combination of Dark Epics for Influence Endeavors and the above books for Influence Actions. Where we deviate it will be noted.

Character Creation

* General Notes

o Trait max: A starting character may not buy any Trait at higher than 3 (excluding Attribute Traits) without Storyteller permission.

o Generation max: If you are not Embraced in-game, you may not place more than 2 points into this background without ST approval; thus, you may begin at a maximum of the 11th Generation. If you are Embraced in-game, your Generation is one less than your sire, but these points must be bought.

o Merit max: No character can be created with more than 7 points of Merits.

o Abilities: Abilities are important. Do you know how to drive? Did you go to high school? Do you know what the Traditions are? You cannot overlook such things that are integral to your character.

* Disciplines

o No Intermediates beyond the first intermediate.

* Backgrounds

o The Espionage Influence is not allowed at character creation.

o Retainers: All retainers are to be portrayed by STs and Narrators ONLY. Players shall at no time portray their retainers for conversations, emails, etc. with other players. Retainers are NOT extensions of the player character, and will NOT automatically do what the player of said character may wish them to do or say. While it is acceptable to use your retainer to accomplish actions in downtime, it is NOT acceptable to portray your retainer to other player characters in downtime scenes or at game.

* Extra Points

o 5 Neg, 7 Flaws: You may take up to five points of Negative Traits, and seven points of Flaws. Flaws include drops in Morality [2 points, one time only] and Derangements [2 points]. You may only get 2 xp for a derangement. You may take multiple derangements, but you will only get 2 XP for the first one. Malkavians must take one derangement at character creation and will gain 2 xp for a second derangement.

o 5 Free Cam 6 XP: A vampire of the six Camarilla clans will be awarded an additional five experience points once their character is completed. Note that Ghouls do not receive the bonus until they are Embraced.

o Underrepresented Clans: Storytellers may award additional experience points for characters in Clans that are considered underrepresented at the time of character creation.

o Spark of Life XP: Written, detailed backgrounds may earn the character between 0 and 5 experience points upon submission.

* Apprenticeship Program

o Starting out: The Apprenticeship program is recommended for new players, interested in getting a feel for the game and the characters therein. In exchange for playing a ghoul and/or NPCs for six games, the character will receive 7 extra xp.

o Double Attendance: For each of the six games during the program, the player will received double (2) xp per game.

o Completion Bonus: With the successful completion of the Apprenticeship Program, the player will receive a bonus xp.

o Cam 6 Embracees: A character Embraced as a Cam 6 Kindred will also gain the bonus 5 xp upon Embrace that any Cam 6 starting vampire receives.

Sending in a GEX

o If you submit your completed character sheet to the ST board via GEX, you will gain 1 XP.

Downtimes

Downtime is a term used to denote what your PC is doing in between games. Other Chronicles (games) may refer to this as BGA's (BackGround Actions). If you wish to do a downtime (DT) then you can submit an email to the WtD Storyteller email list (ST board). The deadline is Tuesday at 5 p.m. (PST) before game. All other submissions will be processed as we have the time. Actions are devided between two types of actions: Major and Minor actions. Each character begins with 5 major actions and 5 minor actions. More can be gained through merits and the use of retainers. Each retainer grants the character 1 major action and 1 minor action.

Major actions are the following:

1. Growing/Buying an Attribute

2. Growing/Buying an Ability (see Abilties below)

3. Influence Endeavors

* Stealing is an Influence Endeavor in Dark Epics

4. Buying an Influence

5. Growing/Buying a non-Influence Background

6. Learning/Buying a Discipline

* See Disciplines below for learning new Disciplines

7. Learning/Buying a Ritual

8. Buying (with ST approval) a Path Trait (e.g. Humanity) or a Willpower Trait

9. Teaching another PC one of the above

Minor Actions are the following:

1. The use of backgrounds (with the exceptions of Retainers controlling Influences.) You can burn Resources, Contacts, etc.

*The one exception to this is we do allow you to burn Resources x2 in a DT so you can gain the double Resources that might otherwise be available to you. We do this because other games in the area allow for this.

2. Growing Influences at one action per level as with growing abilities

Abilties

Growing Abilities: Abilties take the number of Downtimes to Grow for the level desired (e.g. 1st level or dot requires a single downtime. The 5th level or dot requires 5 downtimes. Anything above the third dot requires a teacher (could be a Mentor). All Lores require a teacher even if they are your PC's Clan Lore. Lores that are not of your Clan, Sect or creature type (i.e. Kindred) require ST approval.

Abilities can be purchased up to level 2 without any help. Beyond level two, characters will need teachers for those abilities.

Level 3 - one teacher of equal/higher level

Level 4 - two teachers of equal/higher level

Level 5 - three teachers of equal/higher level

Lores

Lores can be learned up to the first level without a teacher. Beyond the first level, characters will need teachers for those lores.

Level 2 - one teacher of equal/higher level

Level 3 - two teachers of equal/higher level

Level 4 - three teachers of equal/higher level

Level 5 - four teachers of equal/higher level

Disciplines

Growing Disciplines:

Disciplines take one major action per level. For example, a level four discipline would take four major actions.

In-clan disciplines may be learned without a teacher at this rate.

Out-of-clan Disciplines require a teacher to be learned at the same rate, but at one extra experience point cost upon purchasing the discipline.

Clarifications for Disciplines:

* Celerity: Alacrity-Alacrity does not give you an extra action. Instead, you may take your action at any time during the round, allowing you to decide to act before another character after you've heard what that character is planning to do. For example: Johnny and Mable are in combat. Johnny has burned for the first level of Celerity. Mable has more physical traits, so announces first that she is going to attempt to punch Johnny. Johnny can claim "Alacrity" and say that he is going to grab Mable's hand before she can attempt to punch him. That action will be resolved first. If more than one character with Celerity is attempting their action at the same time, the character with the highest levels of Celerity acts first.

* Fortitude: Aegis - does not prevent staking though damaged caused by the staking can be soaked.

* Thaumaturgy: Focused Mind - Focused Mind 1 does not provide three additional mental traits for Thaumaturgy

Backgrounds

Age - Discontinued. If you want to have been embraced more than fifty years ago, it requires a background and ST approval.

Dirt - Discontinued.

Resources - May be burned at double per what is in the books per downtime (e.g. burning Resources x4 nets your PC $20,000 for that downtime).

Stocks - Another way to earn money with your resources is to invest your money in stocks. In order to invest, put in your downtime how much money you are investing. For the purpose of stream-lining these rules for game play, each downtime a chop will be made between the staff. Winning the chop will result in a gain (determined by percentile dice), a tying chop will result in no net gain or loss, a losing chop will result in a net loss (determined by percentile dice). Each downtime, once your money is invested, just send a reminder of how much money you have involved in order to get a chop. You can, at any time, sell your investment in order to get the money tied up in stocks before the next chop. Once a chop is thrown, the money lost is lost. Any money invested in stocks is unavailable until stocks are sold, which must be done during a downtime.

Retainers - A PC may have as many as 5 retainers at level 5.

These retainers must be named and listed on the character sheet in the notes section, and also have a separate character sheet which will be made by the ST staff and stored in a separate database.

Each retainer starting off at level 1 will have 1 in all attributes, 1 ability, and 1 in influences. The player may pick the influences and abilities for the retainer. The ST will pick attributes for the retainer.

At level 2, the retainer may have 1 extra attribute, 1 extra ability, and 1 extra influence.

At level 3, the retainer may have 2 extra attributes, 1 extra ability, and 1 extra influence.

At level 4, the retainer may have 2 extra attributes, 1 extra ability, and 2 extra influences.

At level 5, the retainer may have 2 extra attributes, 2 extra abilities, and 2 extra influences.

While it is logical that the retainer in question would have other abilities, knowledge, and experience, as we all do as individual people for simplicity's sake the retainer has been streamlined in order to function better under a mechanical system of Vampire the Masquerade.

Havens:

If you have not submitted where your haven is located, it is assumed you are safe and out of the sun, but you are easily found and it offers no protection from other Kindred

Havens can be secured by the use of resources appropriate to the type of Haven you are seeking. There is a Haven background that determines the safety of your Haven, but is not necessary.

You are considered to be at your own haven by dawn each evening unless you submit to our board a notice telling us where your PC is staying. The notice must be submitted by email to the ST list.

It is possible to have your Haven discovered (though your Haven background will help prevent this). To successfully hunt a Haven, please send the actions in through your downtimes.

It is possible to hunt inactive or retired PCs and NPCs that are in the staff's control. However, PCs that have been safely shelved cannot be hunted.

Shared Havens: You may share your haven with anyone; however, only one PC can claim a single haven as being theirs.

Havens cannot be public places (like businesses).

Haven (background)

The purchase of the Haven background is to help secure your personal Haven. You do not need this background to have a Haven. This background represents how difficult it is to find your Haven as well as how difficult it is to penetrate its defenses. It may be important to remember, though, that Havens like apartments may be more noticeable by normal humans with a Haven rating at 3 and above.

Haven 1: You have bars on your windows. Your Haven is up +1 trait in challenges to find and penetrate your Haven.

Haven 2: Your Haven is a little more out of the way with a slightly better security system with a sticker in the window. Your Haven is up +2 traits in challenges to find and penetrate your Haven.

Haven 3: Your Haven is a little more out of the way with a slightly better security system and cameras. Your Haven is up +3 traits in challenges to find and penetrate your Haven.

Haven 4: Your Haven is well isolated or hard to find with a better security system and cameras. You also have reinforced doors, walls, and an extra escape. Your Haven is up +4 traits in challenges to find and penetrate your Haven.

Haven 5: Your Haven is practically a fortress. It is not easy to recognize as a Haven and is well guarded against infiltrators. Your Haven is up +5 traits in challenges to find and penetrate your Haven.

Note that the Haven background is for kindred only. All else may use Resources.

Influences

We use Laws of the Night, Revised (3rd ed), MET Laws of the Camarilla and MET ST Guide as stated above for Influence Actions. These are Actions where you simply spend Influence that your PC has to obtain a desired result (e.g. gain one trait of blood by spending the appropriate level of Health Influence).

When it comes to building (Growing) Influence as well as Attacking, Watching, Tracing, Stealthing, Concealing, etc. we go by the Dark Epics rules for Influence Endeavors that cover all of these things.

Some clarifications:

* Where the Influence Endeavor rules read "one month" please read this as one downtime (2 weeks). We're on a slightly different schedule than the Dark Epics rules as written.

* The rules for Trace in Dark Epic's read "one city". Please read this as one game.

* A PC may never use an Influence at higher than what they have on their sheet. The rules for Combine state this very clearly. Pooling Influences via loans from Combine or via an applicable Background such as Allies or Mentor (per the descriptions in Dark Epics) will not allow a PC to accomplish Elder and above Influence Actions (e.g. Call the President of the U.S., obtain a fragment of the Book of Nod, etc.) There is only one exception to this rule and that is for clans researching Thaumaturgy. Please refer to the OWbN Thaumaturgy packets for more details.

* There used to be an Influence Endeavor that was custom to Wasting the Dawn called 'Steal'. Use Attack in it's place and specify whether you are stealing or destroying the Influence in question.

* Growth is still on a 1:1 ratio for downtimes to level. In-other-words: Growing Police 1 takes 1 downtime whereas Church 5 takes 5 downtimes.

* Some players like to get creative in their use of Influences (e.g. using one Influence to Stealth another). This is not explicitly addressed in Dark Epics as written however there is a White Wolf book titled "The Gilded Cage" which suggests ways this can be done. Should any player wish to use Influences in this way they must provide "flavor text" or justification as to how they are directing their Influences to work in tandem.

* Miltitary Influence as outlined in the second and third edition Laws of the Hunt are not Influences that PC's may possess in Wasting the Dawn. Espionage is an Influence a PC may possess in Wasting the Dawn.

* Fame 1 can allow for instant action to influence burns at game. Without Fame 1, all influences must be done in downtimes.

Merits

Quick Draw (4 Point Merit)
You have mastered the art of pulling your weapon from its holster. You can draw your weapon as a free action before everyman rounds begin. You may then fire the weapon in everyman while your opponents are busy getting their weapons out.

This merit cannot be used in conjunction with Celerity 1 (Alacrity).

We do not allow the purchase of the Ability Apititude merit.

Infernalism

Any PC that goes Infernal becomes an NPC controlled by the staff.

Disregard previous rules for Infernalism or Infernal Investments.

Gaining Experience in Wasting the Dawn

In order to gain experience for playing in Wasting the Dawn, a player must sign into game before 10:30 pm and play for at least an hour and a half. If you leave before an hour and a half, you will not gain experience. If you arrive after 10:30 pm, you may play but will not gain experience. If you are signed in and in an IC (In-Character) area, you are acceptd as being at game and expected to be in character. If you wish to socialize OOC (Out-Of-Character), you may do so, but it must be done in an area outside of the IC play area and you will not gain experience for spending your hour and a half there. If you are disrupting IC play with too much OOC socializing, an ST may ask you to leave the IC area.

You may turn in character journals. One journal per downtime cycle will earn you one XP, earning you 2 xp per month if you do so regularly. You may turn in more journals, but you will only get 1 xp.

Shelving/Inactive Characters

If you do not attend game at least once every three months, your character may be unsafely shelved and labeled inactive. An unsafe shelving means that your character's influences may be up for grabs unprotected, their haven may still be found, and any plots they are currently involved in will be played out without contacting the player. If for reasons outside of game (we understand that there is a real life), please contact the STs to safely shelve your character. A safely shelved character is assumed to be going about their business and actively protecting their assets unless said otherwise. If you have been shelved, you cannot play your character at any other games. If you wish to be unshelved, you have to contact the ST Board before playing that character again.

Damage Caps

Damage Caps are under ST discussion.

Disciplinary Action

Disciplinary Action is at the discretion of the ST Staff.