<div align="center">(https://img.clipartxtras.com/06d012253e12756e9b804a9d6bac4879_fleur-de-lis-clipart-no-background-clipartxtras-fleur-de-lis-clipart-no-background_440-492.gif)</div><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Welcome to New Orleans!</strong></span></div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Hey folks!<br/><br/>This is our OOC thread for the Where Saints Dwell game. This is where the game can be discussed out of character in full view of everyone, plans and suggestions can be made, I can be criticised ( ! ) and, for now, most importantly, where everyone can introduce their characters and begin the process of coordinating your backgrounds together as you decide which trait to pool and how to build your backgrounds around that poll (as per the rules on p. 118 of the V20 rulebook, your backgrounds cannot exceed the number of dots in your coterie's pooled background, so it helps to finalise your character sheets here, once you've all started to work together on ideas for your coterie).<br/><br/>You've all the time in the world, but, what you should eventually post here to kick things off is your character sheet (or a link to one), a brief concept behind your character and some background information about them (you can feel free to hide details from your fellow coterie members; this is Vampire, after all, and this coterie has only been in existence for 5-7 years; you will certainly have secrets from your brethren, and you will not have told them everything about yourselves). Finally, if you could lay out one by one the Merits and Flaws you have selected for your vampire (if any), as well as their verbatim text followed by how you fluff that Merit/Flaw for your own vampire (i.e., if you have the Hunted Like A Dog flaw, please include the full text of what that Flaw is, and then follow it up by explaining it in the context of your character - are they wanted for death by the Sabbat, by a Vampire hunter, or what's the story?) You CAN, if you feel it is necessary, PM me with that information if you feel that the coterie shouldn't know about it yet. There is a certain insidious element of paranoia in Vampire: The Masquerade, and so long as it isn't getting in the way of other players playing the way they wanna' play, there's nothing wrong with contributing to that theme.<br/><br/>Spinning off from that, there's an important rule to note that ties in with my choice of subforum for this OOC thread - the baseline for this game is NC, since the very act of taking blood USUALLY involved an unwilling NPC. If players are agreed and are comfortable and if the story demands it, we can decide to place the game thread into the Extreme subforum, but if not, then it will go here. Players are welcome to pursue any interest or any agenda they like, and may do so with each other - PROVIDED both players have discussed it and consent. You CANNOT do anything to another player character without that player's OOC consent, even if the act itself, in-game, is non-consentual or hostile. Simple rule, but it ensures everyone has fun and is not forced into a situation they are uncomfortable with or that stops them enjoying their own character. Playing Vampire around a table as I do weekly, this actually is something that comes up a lot - we tend to plot against one another quite a bit. That works in a tabletop situation where we are all friends and play for long sessions every week; it's not the end of the world if somebody gets bloodbonded without their knowing. On a play-by-post site, where we are all strangers, we need to take extra steps to make sure people aren't falling out, and so this rule is gonna' be enforced strictly. You can do whatever you like to each other - just talk it over first.</span><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://static.vinepair.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/travel-bourbonst.jpg)</div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">Take time coordinating your character's backstories in this thread before we start the game. The coterie is about 5-7 years old, but your character may not necessarily have joined when it was first formed. You're all playing neonates having been Embraced anywhere between 25-30 years ago, so you could have joined the coterie at any time over the past few years. There could very well be power dynamics within the coterie, if you guys decide you wanna' do that, but it's hardly necessary. It could simply be a pack of like-minded individuals trying to survive the Jyhad and figuring the best way to do so was to pool their resources.<br/><br/>In the same way, once you've decided which resource to pool (I think the best option for a coterie is almost always Domain, but don't let me decide for you), take the time to flesh out that background trait and decide the details on it. If't s a Domain, for instance, decide where it is, what it's like, how it interacts with your other, individual background traits (does Player A's herd life there, does Player B keep her wealth stashed somewhere on site?), and of course what laws and rules you enforce within your coterie's name - and what you've done in the past to vampires or ghouls who've upset those rules.</span><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://img00.deviantart.net/ccf2/i/2014/053/6/6/vampire___the_masquerade___lextalionis___crop_by_z_grimv-d77e5el.jpg)</div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">My initial post in the game is likely to be very vague, a sort of summary of recent events and important figures you all already know. I intend to take the start of the game slowly - you are a coterie of vampires; tell me what that's like, what do you do on an average night, what are your goals and how are you, in the instant the game begins, progressing to advance them? With that said, there is of course one major piece of contextual information that is integral to your characters' behaviour with each other and with the world beyond their domains' walls.<br/><br/>You are all Kindred of the Camarilla, even those of you who may have begun unlife in another Sect, or none at all, or who now may harbour sympathies outside the Ivory Tower. You are in the domain of the Prince of New Orleans and as such you follow her diktats as if they are the word of Caine Himself. Vampire is not as forgiving a game as Dungeons &amp; Dragons, or other tabletops - if these rules are violated carelessly or haphazardly, there will be severe, severe punishments. There are always loopholes - this is a game, after all, not a manifesto - but this is a game whose defining theme is the crushing hopelessness of eternity against the rule of alien, unknowable ancients over the swelling ranks of the young and disaffected. Fight the Power, by all means - just fight it smart.</span><br/><br/><div align="center">(http://lamushcast.wikidot.com/local--files/camarilla-society:camarilla-status/status.jpg)</div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">I don't think I've anything more to say in kicking things off. I'll turn it over to all of you, and let you work out the specifics of the coterie, its capabilities, and ultimately its ambitions :D If needs be I will update this thread myself with setting details and important information, but otherwise I will leave that to my opening post in the game itself.<br/><br/>Anything else you need don't hesitate to shout, here or in PMs!</span>