(( Posted with permission of author )) Date sent: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 15:40:16 -0600 From: Jenn Lyle Subject: [stcircle] Cathayan Lore, post ICC Hey folks! If you guys could pass the word, I would be grateful. There were many PCs who came in contact with the Cathayan NPCs at ICC and interacted with them. The players of these PCs are now coming and asking about Cathayan Lore. Here's some quick answers that you can offer for their questions: 1. What approval level is Cathayan Lore? Here, you can teach players, in general, how to determine the approval level for anything in the game. Have them answer to you the following questions: Questions: Does this item that you're asking for, for your character, appear in any of the source books that we're using for Sanctioned Chronicle? Does it appear in the Cam House Rules (currently 5.0)? Research: 5.0 Prime, Introduction, lists out what is Sanctioned source material for each of the Venues. If it appears in a source book Sanctioned for Chronicle for that Venue, double check with the House Rules first to make sure that it is not noted as a higher approval level in the Cam House Rules (5.0). Answers: If there is no notation of a Higher Level of Approval in 5.0, and it is included in the source books used for Sanctioned Chronicle for that Venue, it is CST Approval. It is DST Approval if noted as so in 5.0; it is RST Approval if noted so in 5.0. If it appears in Sanctioned Source for another Venue, that makes the item RST Approval. (example, A Ventrue seeking Shadow Lord Lore) If it does not appear in any of the source books used for Sanctioned Chronicle and is not mentioned in 5.0, it is at least RST Approval, possibly NST Approval. Cathayan Lore is an item that does not appear in source books used for Sanctioned Chronicle, and is not mentioned in 5.0. Therefore, it is at least RST Approval, possibly NST Approval. Take this opportunity now to teach your players how to determine approval levels for things so that they won't have to re-ask basically the same questions... they'll be armed with the knowledge to know what approvals they need on anything already. 2. What do I (the player) need to do to get my Lore approved? Lores are still basically fast and lose, and left to the final discretion of the RST. What I recommend to the RSTs is that a Lore constitutes a certain amount of immersion into a culture from which the Lore is based. Using the example above, perhaps the Ventrue had some conversations with the Shadow Lord about some things specific to the Shadow Lord's tribe. There was some exposure to that Shadow Lord's culture which could constitute a Lore, but may not... it depends on the amount of exposure, the amount of information garnered, the quality of the information garnered, most of these which are to the discretion of the RSTs. My personal rule of thumb has always been along the lines of following similar guidelines to what is used to grow influences. For example: If the Ventrue conversed regularly with the Shadow Lord for one month, with a good write up, the player of the Ventrue could apply for Shadow Lord Lore 1 and keep that Lore once the RST approves it. (Level 1 Lore = 1 month of cultural immersion) The Ventrue would not be able to grow that Shadow Lord Lore to 2 until the Kindred completed at least 3 more months of regular conversation with the Shadow Lord, a new good write up, and a separate approval request that the RST approves for the character to keep the Shadow Lord Lore 2. That's a total of 4 months of continual and regular role play between the Ventrue and the Shadow Lord for the Ventrue to qualify for Shadow Lord Lore 2. (Level 2 Lore = 1 + 2 months of cultural immersion, not cumulative with previous number of months used in a prior approval = Total of 4 months) The Ventrue would not be able to grow that Shadow Lord Lore to 3 until the Kindred completed at least 6 more months of regular conversation with the Shadow Lord, a new good write up, and a separate approval request that the RST approves for the character to keep the Shadow Lord Lore 3. That's a total of 10 months of continual and regular role play between the Ventrue and the Shadow Lord for the Ventrue to qualify for the Shadow Lord Lore 3. (Level 3 Lore = 1 + 2 + 3 months of cultural immersion, not cumulative with previous number of months used in a prior approval = Total of 10 months) And so on... These are the guidelines I follow for a character after the character has been put into play. Lores by virtue of background is a completely different story, and I recommend anyone to contact your RST to find out what's generally acceptable for Lores by virtue of background at character creation. Now, suppose a player does a write up based on what s/he learned from exposure to a different culture and applied for the Lore for this, but did not get the Lore itself approved. In this case, this 'fact sheet' can be filed with the CST and used as a knowledge base for the character to run off of when confronted with a similar situation later in chronicle. That player can always hold on to that fact sheet and continue to develop it more in chronicle and apply for that Lore approval on a later date. So, all in all, I do not believe that those characters who conversed with the Cathayan NPCs have a really strong chance at gaining Lores as a result of ICC. There was one character who may have a chance at this, only because he sucessfully telepathically linked himself to one of the NPCs and kept that way for the duration of their visit... and that's only if there's an exceptional write up on all of the things that his character learned. However, what players can definitely do is write up the things that their characters have learned in chronicle. Encourage the players not to use source as their guide, but rather what their characters perceived things to be. Go ahead and try for the approvals (again, these are at RST discretion at least for the Cathayan Lore), and if the players do not get the approval, they do have a 'fact sheet' to run their characters off of should their characters be confronted with a similar situation in the future in chronicle... and when they are confronted with a similar situation and add to their fact sheet, they can continue applying for that Lore. I hope this explanation clears some things up regarding Lores and Approval Levels in general (explaining the reasoning behind some of this) besides answering questions specifically about applying for Cathayan Lore as a result of role play at ICC. Feel free to share this on Regional, Domain, and Chapter Lists. Thx! J. Jenn Lyle 9705068 ANST Camarilla / Anarch Canada & US Director of Marketing: Dreikönigsnacht 20 + K + M + B + 01 January 4-7, 2001 : St. Louis, MO http://www.12th-night.org/