by Jon G.
May 18th, 2013
Citizens of Hartford
It is, as it has always been, my ultimate goal for us to thrive and prosper as a domain in these changing times- not to rule with an iron fist for the sake of power. When my leadership was called into question, I cast my gaze around the room searching for an adequate replacement, considering with some relief the prospect of stepping down; but all who seem capable of retaining the power are also unsuited to the task. It is imperative that whoever rules this city must do so with compassion, and cannot be the servant of dark powers. This ruler must also be accepted not only by his own subjects, but by surrounding domains. I am clearly not that man… but I do wish to become him. To be the ruler Hartford requires, two things are demanded of me, each of which is a great risk.
First, I must make clear my feelings about the Chimera organization. They have been invaluable in developing the city’s mortal infrastructure, and many useful members of my domain work for the corporation, so I want to make it clear that this is not personal. While I have still not reconciled Conrad’s choice to involve a demonic entity in the protection of my domain, I sense that at least his interest in defending this city is genuine, even if his methods are dubious. I really have no issue with any other member of the group, save one. The individual I hold to task for the questionable activity of the corporation is Damien Thompsie, whose actions, behavior, and general outlook have consistently alarmed and angered many of us. I will let you keep your domain for now, but I suggest you stay away from my elysium, or you will feel how harshly unwelcome you truly are. Members of your group will receive no special treatment in my court, aside from that which they merit by their own individual actions, positive or negative.
The second, far more dangerous task I must undertake is to clear my name in the eyes of the church, and the domains around us. I have sworn to you all from the beginning that I am no slave to a demonic host; that the stereotypes surrounding my bloodline do not define me. Now I will prove it to the world, once and for all- I am joining the Church of the Guardian. It is possible that even though my soul is pure of infernal influence, I will not survive the rites and rituals of entry to the church. It is possible that simply belonging to my bloodline is “corruption” enough to end my life. It is further possible that shadowy elements within the church who desire my death will engineer it as perhaps they tried to do by bringing that sword to my court last month. I can only hope that those of the church who truly believe what they preach will see my desire for redemption as something worth protecting.
To the effect of preparing myself to undergo these rites, I am entering a state of contemplative isolation and will not be present this month for the courtly gathering. I suggest you use this moment of relative peace to muster your resources for the challenges ahead. Do not forget that we face the changing of the age together, and it will be a far from easy road. Major decisions, should they arise when I cannot be reached, are to be made by an ad-hoc council of three officers with equal power; Aislyn Burrows, Elizabeth Waldorf, and the newcomer Zacharia Licht, who I believe will have a fresh perspective and a balancing influence. After I emerge and complete the trials of the church, assuming I survive, my praxis continues. If I die, well, then you’ll have to select a replacement after all.
I am yours sincerely,
Melchior, Prince of Hartford
by Jon G.
April 24th, 2013
We have attempted to give out a sliding scale. It has proved logistically too complicated for me, and something I'm not ultimately willing to accomodate. The new system is that everybody gets 8. Staff will be handing it out.
I understand that this is not what was discussed, and that it will be a shock. I understand that this system also has issues, as did the many previous iterations of attempting to accomodate player desires for this mechanic. I have, however, received many more requests to adjust the scale to accomodate various desires, and feel that it is contributing to a never-ending morass of contradictory advice.
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=Experience_Trait
Please do not reply to this post.
by Steve Collins
April 21st, 2013
Folks,
If I remember correctly, it was said last night that Staff will be handing out the XP. So if you want to spend your XP, please make a Journal entry and a Staff member will confirm the XP spend in the XP log. At that time, you are free to update the sheet. Please remember to do so, as Jon said any disputes would come down to what the sheet says and we want to make sure everyone is aware. Please label the Journal entry with XP and month in title to make it easier and of course outline any teachers, manuals, labs, etc. Remember, best bonus applies. We'll work through them as quickly as possible.
by Jon G.
April 21st, 2013
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=Experience_Trait
Here it is. Please review that this version relects our mutual understanding of what we wanted and send me any coments. Thanks
by Steve Collins
April 14th, 2013
If you are in process of making a new character and you want me to review, please send me a pm. These sheets can get complex, so its easy to miss something basic...like Clan:). If you have questions, or want opinions I will be happy to do that too. If I cant answer a question, I'll raise it up the chain. I just know that I might have more time to review things then some of the others at this moment in time and know people would rather play than make their characters at game...well most of us.
It's helpful if you annotate what template you were building from somewhere on your sheet. I can double check math which is much better to do on downtime.
OK, good luck folks!
Steve
by Jon G.
April 9th, 2013
So the xp thread generated a huge discussion, and the suggestion was made (Tim and Nej, independantly) that we hash out the finishing touches offline. Let's do that! Only instead of trust falls, let's play poker! Therefore I cordially invite you, my dear readers, to join me for Scotch, Semi-friendly poker ($10 or $20?), and final discussion of the recent mechanical changes.
Honestly, I don't expect the xp discussion to last more than 20 minutes. I figure that if we've got a bunch of mechanics minded people playing poker, they'll probably come up with some fixes for some other stuff while they're at it.
Anyone from Echoes who wishes to come is welcome (we could set up a second table). If the crowd gets big enough, we'll order a pizza or something.
Where: My place
When: Thursday the 18th at 6pm
Why: I like scotch, I got a new poker set, there's a discussion to be finished.
by Jon G.
April 9th, 2013
In preparation for the move to the new xp system, I've cashed out all of the xp that was sitting on your various tracks, and estimated tracks for months for which we had no data, extrapolating from data points we had.
What this means is that I can't guarentee that it's 100% accurate, so if you think that it's wrong and your math gets a different number, just let me know.
As of now we've moved over to the new system (March points went in under the old, and then cashed out if it didn't complete what you were working on), and that means that lots of you have buckets of points to spend (Yay!).
Below is a copy paste of what things cost if you have a teacher (double cost if you don't). If you're teacher has twice the level you're learning, it's 1/2 price.
Go nuts and enjoy. Please log what you buy in your xp log.
Any questions? Happy to answer
Experience Costs
Desired level is marked as DR. Formula are listed algebraically when this would be straightforward.
- Physical Mental and Social Traits cost 2/5 desired rating, rounded up, broken down in blocks of 5. e.g. traits 1 to 5 cost 2 exp, traits 6 to 10 cost 4 a piece, traits 11 through 15 cost 6 per and so on.
- In clan disciplines: 6xDR
- Out of clan disciplines: 8xDR
- A secondary path of blood sorcery (necromancy, thaum, kuldonics, etc.) cost their appropriate costs as in clan or out of clan disciplines with a 1 point discount. For example for a tremere's second path of thaum would cost 5, 11, 17, 23, 29 etc exp whereas a brujah buying the same power as their secondary path would be 7, 15, 23, 31, 39.
- Rituals: 2x(Ritual Level)
- Merits/Flaws: 4xLevel^2 Can only be purchased (and flaws only bought off) with staff permission and with special effort. 4 for level 1, 16 for level 2, 36 for level 3, 64 for a level 4, 100 for a level 5.
by Jon G.
April 4th, 2013
A request has come in to have a list of possible mentors made available, and it's created a project of buidling a Who's Whom? type database of the region. The work is in progress, and available here:
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=Boston_Dominion
and here:
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=New_York_Dominion
and here:
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=Hartford
and hopefully soon here:
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=New_Haven
This is by no means a complete listing, but it should get you going, and we will try to fill it out as time and talent present themselves
by Jon G.
March 31st, 2013
This was the second most requested thing on the survey, so we've radically simplified, eliminating tracks, and cutting 90% of the math. You you purchased a Teaching spec, you will be refunded the xp that went into it, as they are no longer used.
http://www.vampire.echoesofempires.org/index.php?title=Experience_Trait
