FAQ

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Dark Ridge Requiem's frequently asked questions (FAQ) is meant to document common questions that new players may have about our game, and cover some of the house rules that aren't mechanical effects. If you think that something's missing, feel free to contact us and we'll add it!

General FAQ

What is Dark Ridge Requiem?

Dark Ridge Requiem is a troupe based Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) Game based in Huntsville, Alabama. We use CCP Publishing's Vampire: The Requiem system, set in the World of Darkness. Dark Ridge is an adult game, you must be 18+ or have consent of a parent or legal guardian to play. We meet on the Second Saturday of the month at The Foundry game store, and continue the fun on our interactive forums which contain both In-Character (IC) and Out of Character (OOC) Conversations. For more information, visit our forums, or contact us.

What is a chronicle?

A chronicle is the length of a game. Dark Ridge Requiem is currently running a two year chronicle with a reevaluation of the chronicle on the Second Saturday of April, 2016.

Does Dark Ridge use any House Rules?

Yes! We have some house rules in place. Many of them affect common merits like Resources and Fighting styles. For more information about our House Rules, please visit our forums and read the House Rules and Clarifications section.

Does it cost anything to play in Dark Ridge Requiem?

Yes. We have a $5 site fee to play in Dark Ridge. This site fee is going towards renting venue locations to host the game.

Characters

How do I create a character?

The first thing to do is to visit our forums and read the Character Creation Guide. We use the rules from the core table top books "World of Darkness" (also referred to as "The Blue Book") and "Vampire: The Requiem" (also referred to as "The Red Book").

Can I have more than one character in your game?

No. We do not allow secondary characters. You may only have one character active at any given time. If you decide that you would like to play a new character, you will have to talk to the ST staff to retire your current character and bring in something new.

Do I get any character sheet rewrites?

Simple answer, No. There will be no character sheet re-writes allowed in the chronicle. You cannot move dots on a sheet once the sheet has been approved by the ST staff without ST approval.

Is there a restriction on age limit for my character?

Yes. We are currently limiting the number of elders in the game. You must gain ST approval before creating a character that is older than 150 years. There is no limit on the number of neonates(0-50 years), Ambitious Ancillae (51-100), or Seasoned Ancillae (101-150). Please note that Ambitious Ancillae will take a -1 to their starting humanity, and Seasoned Ancillae will take a -2 to their starting humanity. Neither of these drops will award xp, and you cannot drop your humanity lower than 5 at creation without ST approval.


Background Story

How long do I have to submit a background story for XP?

All players will have 30 days from the time they enter play to submit a background story for XP award. Anything submitted after this deadline is no longer eligible for xp award. For more information on writing a well developed background story, please visit our forums and read the article Developing your character background story.

Can I use NPC’s from cannon source books in my background story?

Absolutely! You are able to pull from any of the Vampire: The Requiem source books for inspiration for your background story and make ties in your backgrounds with cannon NPCs. However, please note that it is still up to ST approval for those interactions to have occurred as you have written.

Can I use real life historical figures/celebrities in my background story?

Absolutely! However, please use common sense when doing so. It has to fit with the theme of your character and be realistic. It is not feasible for a character who was embraced in the 1980's to have had dinner with Benjamin Franklin before embrace, unless they were ghouled for an extended period of time before being embraced.


Experience Point Systems

How do I earn XP?

There is only one way to earn XP in Dark Ridge. To play in the games. You have to show up, sign in, pay the site fee ($5) and play the game to earn any xp.

How much XP do I gain for showing up at a game?

The amount of XP you can earn varies based on your level of participation in the game, your level of immersion, how well you remain In Character throughout the game, Costuming, and how entertaining your character is.
Additionally, after every game, we have a "Player of the night" vote, where players can vote for who enriched their game the most. The winner of this award will gain an additional 2xp for the month in which they won the vote.

How do I spend my XP?

You can only spend XP through downtimes. For more information about spending XP, please visit our forums and read Spending your XP.

Brownie Points

For more information on Brownie Points (BPs), including a breakdown of how to earn BPs please visit our forums and read Brownie Points.

What are Brownie Points?

Brownie Points are our way of rewarding the troupe community for their contributions to the game. All players are eligible to earn Brownie Points. Brownie Points can be converted to experience points. These points can be spent on current characters or saved up for a future character. Most LARPs offer their players a reward system of some sort, some even reward their members for donations to charity. Our rewards system is a little different from what you may be used to. The Brownie Points system focuses on rewarding players for spending time and effort to assist in the enrichment and growth of our game and our troupe directly.

How do I earn Brownie Points?

You can earn Brownie Points in a number of ways. Some examples are donating food and drinks for the players to share at game, carpooling and arranging transportation for players to the game, driving long distances, donating office supplies, donating dice for people to use at the games, assisting the STs, acquiring a location for a game, moderating a forum, etc. No more than 6 Brownie Points may be earned per month, and any donations exceeding that earning may not be carried over into the next month.

How do I spend Brownie Points?

Twice a year (every 6 months), a player may spend up to half of their Brownie Points on their current character.
Players may spend Brownie Points on downtime forms under experience point expenditures. All Brownie Points convert to xp at a rate of 2xp per Brownie Point.
If a player wishes to start a new character, any amount of current Brownie Points can be converted to xp to be spent at creation.
The current dates for Brownie Point expenditure are on your March downtimes before the April Anniversary game, and on your September downtimes before the October Halloween Game.

BPs for creating a wiki?

Yep! You heard that right. Players are eligible for a one time Brownie Point gain for creating a wiki page for their character. The wiki page MUST follow the PC template that was created, and include both clan and covenant.
ALL INFORMATION POSTED ON A PC SUMMARY PAGE IS CONSIDERED OOC INFORMATION UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED.

How do I make a PC wiki page?

To create a PC wiki, please reference User_Guide

Downtime Reports

What is a Downtime Report

Downtime Reports are submitted monthly. They are reports on what your character is doing in between games. Downtimes are a way for people to engage in plot between games, chase leads that they were given at the game and build upon their character's foundations in the city. You have as many resolve actions in a month as your character has dots in the "Resolve" attribute. You also have actions for retainers, contacts, allies and mentors. Additionally, you can spend your resource traits for the month, or record the traits that were spent at game in your downtime report. Downtimes are the only place your can spend your earned XP. What you list as "How is your character feeding" on your downtime report is how we determine what you starting vitae at the beginning of each game will be.

Is there a form for downtimes?

Yes! We have a customized template for downtimes that will explain most of the mechanics of the downtime. Please visit our forum and read Downtime Form.

What is a Resolve Action

Every character has dots in an attribute called "Resolve". These dots give your character actions that they can accomplish throughout the month. One dot = one action.
Example, Jimmy Fingers has a resolve of 3. For his first action, he's going to visit a string of convenience stores and shoplift some beer for him and his buddies to throw a big party on the beach. For his second action, he is going to steal a car to transport all the booze he's stolen over the past couple of weeks to the party. For his third action, he will host the beach party and run the security checkpoints. This concludes the resolve actions that Jimmy Fingers can accomplish in one months time.
Please note that your resolve actions will be responded to by the STs, so what you do in your resolve actions can have a big impact on the plot of the game. You actions are also not guaranteed to succeed. In our above example, if Jimmy Fingers gets caught shoplifting, his other two actions will not take place that month.

What can I do with Contacts and Allies on a downtime?

Simply put, Contacts give you information and Allies can loan you equipment or do small favors for you.
Please note that contacts and allies represent mortal world contacts that are NOT masquerade safe. Be mindful of the masquerade when interacting with them.
Using our above example of Jimmy Fingers, lets assume that he has contacts in Allies in 'Police', and Contacts in 'Street'. He uses his allies police action to cover his tracks with the shoplifting and car thieving so that his party can go off without a hitch. And uses his Contacts in Street to give him a heads up if any police are headed his way.