(( posted with permission of the author ))


Date sent:      	Tue, 07 Nov 2000 10:49:23 -0600
From:           	Jenn Lyle <god@jyhad.net>
Subject:        	[stcircle] Lore Books - Whatta bad idea!

This probably won't be a very popular stance, but I'm just trying to field 
issues before they become issues, and calling it as I see it.

When I was in charge of the SAs, and the task was placed to me to create 
the Lores for Sanctioned Play, I ran into a number of issues which makes 
Lores a mechanic, which in my opinion now, should never be standardized by 
any means.

1.  How do you define all of the intricate details and nuances that a Lore 
may represent?  Upon one level of Lore, you can try to define it as tersely 
as possible so that CSTs/players do not have too much reading to do outside 
of what source we already have plus supplements.  But at the same time, 
volumes of articles could be written about the subtle nuances of 
information that a Lore could represent.  What is the middle ground in 
giving just enough for all CSTs/players to run with, but not so much that 
you're just drowning them in more supplemental material?

2.  Lores are not FACTS.  I think that's the hardest thing for players/STs 
to understand.  If they were facts, they'd be called FACTs.  But they're 
not facts; they're based on observation and perception, are spread on the 
wings of myth and rumor by supernaturals (or mortals) about 
supernaturals.  However, every Lores document that I have seen proposed for 
Sanctioned play, outside of higher lores approved by RSTs based on PC 
perceptions that the RSTs had that player write up for the Lore approval, 
has been all based on 'facts' from TT Source material.  It is why I 
advocate any sort of 'fact sheet' that a player puts together for a Lore 
approval to be filed with the players' CST so that the player knows what 
information he can re-use concisely without any question as to whether or 
not the character would know it based on his lore level (even when we did 
have somewhat concise lores defined, interpretation of this varied in areas 
that were undefined).

3.  All of the types of Lores that there are in chronicle right now is 
maddening!  There's Varojsa Lore in play somewhere, for instance.  I've 
seen Infernalist Tremere Lore (not just Tremere Lore, oh no... Infernalist 
Tremere Lore);  We have Abomination Lore in play!  While 5.1 doesn't limit 
the variety of Lores available, this Lore Happy Craze Binge that many 
players seem to be bent on I think is rather destructive to the overall 
game.  For obscure Lores, there are no guidelines to define them.  Who's to 
say where and when certain Lores overlap?  And then how far do STs have to 
go in defining things in the game?  If Lore Books are started, we'll have 
Lore books for even the most obscure or ridiculous Lores:  Northern 
Highland Enochian Lore; True Salubri Lore on a Caitiff embraced 3 years; 
Barney Lore; <---- these are all in actual play somewhere, folks.  A 
Giovanni 10 years embraced with Cappadocian Lore 4; Mummy Lore 4; Wyrm Lore 
4 on a Gangrel PC... the list goes on!

4.  No consensus on what Lores can/cannot do.  There's so many cases where 
a CST approved for a Brujah PC to go infiltrate the Tremere, for example, 
and accepts that the Brujah PC can do this successfully based off of the 
PC's Tremere Lore 4 (uhm, hello?  What about swearing Tremere Oath and 
being partially bound to the Council of 7?  How did that Brujah PC 
accomplish that? Not to mention the ANST List Infiltration Policy that 
prevents that... but players feel justified in their infiltration anyways 
because their CST said its okay).

5.  When you define something such as Lores, you place limits on it.  Plain 
and simple there.  You limit creativity and the imagination.  I just can't 
advocate that.


Everyone seems to agree that Lores are broken to some extent.

So, why not spend time and effort on building worksheets on what characters 
know and file them with the CST to define what your character learns in 
chronicle, whether it be fact or fiction.  Write these fact sheets based on 
the character's perception of the world.  Based on his background learning, 
etc.  Place this responsibility back on players to define as part of 
fleshing their character out in character creation, or developing/character 
growth during chronicle, especially since STs simply can't come to 
resolution on how to define Lores evenly and fairly across the board and in 
comparison to one another.  This takes the whole question of who knows what 
at what Lore level out of the equation entirely.


J.

President of  the say NO to Encyclopedia WorldofDarknessitannica Campaign 
2000:  Try building the Lores Table yourself for all the Clans all at once, 
and you'll learn what I am talking about...

*grins*