GENERAL HOUSE MECHANICS

RETCON
There are times in which certain aspects need to be removed from the continuity of the overall story of Cairo After Dark. A retcon is defined as removing a specific thing from the continuity of the story. This "thing" can be as simple as a single spoken word by a (non)player character, to more complicated things such as an entire scene, combat, or even character death. When an item is retconned, that item is removed from play as if that item never existed, as well as (non)player-characters will react equally as if the item never existed.

• Retconning may only be performed by a Storyteller.
• Retconning must be submitted to the relevant parties within 1 hour from the original events taking place.
• Retconning which needs to occur beyond 1 hour from the original events taking place must be submitted to Storytellers for review and pausing the scene.

MEDIATION
A Mediator will be sought as a binding arbiter in a dispute between parties with the consent of all involved. Anyone chosen as Mediator has the right to refuse. This responsibility may not be delegated without prior permission from all parties involved. The specific details of such mediation shall remain confidential and shall not be made public unless Disciplinary Action as a result of such mediation is sought, in which case the Administrative team may make the action wholly or partially public, in the exercise of their discretion. To protect the confidentiality of our members the Mediator may opt to use pseudonyms rather than identifying individuals by name. Mediator or the individual requesting mediation or their proxy (Storyteller) may ask others to make statements regarding the mediation.

LEARNING DISCIPLINES
When you choose your character's clan, the character gains access to that clan's three innate disciplines. If you choose to purchase a bloodline merit, the clan�s native disciplines may be altered to reflect the differences between that bloodline and the pure blood of the parent clan. At character creation, you assign one of your character�s native, or �in-clan� disciplines 2 dots and 1 dot to each of your character�s two remaining in-clan disciplines. You can then use initial experience points (EXP) and EXP gained from flaws to purchase additional dots of the character�s in-clan disciplines. With the Storyteller�s permission, you may also buy the first 3 dots of non-native, �out-of-clan� disciplines, so long as those disciplines are common to the setting. You cannot purchase more than 3 dots of a specific out-of-clan discipline (though you may buy more than one out-of-clan), nor may you buy rare disciplines during character creation.

After character creation, you can freely purchase your character's in-clan disciplines with XP.

To learn 1 or more dots of an out-of-clan discipline: The student must find a teacher who possesses the desired discipline in-clan, and has mastered at least the level they wish to learn.

The student must drink a point of Blood from the teacher to awaken the potential to learn a discipline not innate to the student�s clan. If the student already possesses a dot of the discipline to be learned, they may skip this step. The student cannot learn other powers or disciplines from the ingestion of this Blood.

The teacher must spend 1 point of Willpower for every power to be taught, and inform the student which discipline (and which powers) he is teaching them.

The teacher must be in contact with the student and must give them instruction from time to time. The student must actively train, and, therefore, must spend 1 action per power to be learned.

The student must spend the XP to purchase the power or powers.

The student need only drink 1 point of Blood from the teacher to gain the capability to learn all of the powers of a given Discipline, even if learning from multiple vampires. The individual powers still need to be taught and learned separately. The Blood ingested counts towards the blood bound.

Once a character has activated an out-of-clan discipline by learning the first power, they do not need to drink more blood in order to learn additional levels of that discipline. Even after the blood bond fades, they still retain the ability to learn more. However, they will need further instruction (and more Willpower expenditures) from a qualified teacher who possesses the discipline in-clan. This may be a different teacher than the one who initially taught them in the first place.

GENERAL ETIQUETTE
Decency: In basic, do not be an asshole, elitist, drama king/queen or douche. reprehensible behavior include, but are not limited to: bullying, emotional manipulation and harassment, actively avoiding other players and their characters, cliques and gaslighting.

Bigotry: Discrimination will not be tolerated, be it racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia. note: this does not mean that dark senses of humor are prohibited. Risqu jokes about touchy subject are allowed, just make sure that your intent is clear.

Inflammatory Subjects: The current state of the world is pretty screwed up, we get it. However, for many of us, games like these are a form of escapism. We ask that you avoid bringing up issues about politics, religion, and most social justice issues. Players are expected to de-escalate heated arguments of their own accord, but Storytellers might step in and mute players who just refuse to back down. The internet is a vast place with countless tribunes for you to use, this place is not it.

OUT OF CHARACTER
Respect Storytellers: Always remember that Storyteller(s) are here trying to entertain you out of the goodness of their hearts. We encourage constructive criticism, but flat-out lack of respect will not be tolerated. Respect Fellow Players: The same rule goes for players; we ask that all our entire community (Storytellers & players alike).

Separation: This is an especially important rule. What happens in-character stays in-character, and what happens out of character stays out of character. Players who cause drama because they can't make the distinction between the game and real life may be asked to leave.

Blood Poison: Don't use Out Of Character knowledge to influence In-Character events. i.e: Another player is discussing a weakness their character has in one of the OOC channels, this doesn�t mean that another character is aware of this weakness in an IC channel, unless previously learned through game play.

ROLE-PLAY ETIQUETTE
These are the basic forms of interaction to have some uniformity within the game. This allows everyone to understand what is going on and spend less time trying to translate what other people are trying to do.

LANGUAGES
All languages are, by default, English. If you are using another language, you must use a tag. Typically, it's " blah blah blah" and after a line or two you can shorten it to 2-3 letters (remember, < s > is softly and is whisper, so don't shorten a language to that if it starts with those letters).

Example: Bob: How are you? Jane: I don't speak English. Bob: What? Jane: I don't speak your silly language.

If you are in a scene with someone or someone else and you have the entire conversation in another base language, you can state "((the rest of the conversation is in X until otherwise noted))" in the channel log and go from there. If someone new comes into the channel, you must inform them of this. At that point, typically the non-English language must be tagged again.

OUT OF CHARACTER
While we prefer to keep all OOC talk out of in-game channels, we know this may not always happen. Therefore, when needing to mention something OOC within an in-game channel, please use something that will show that you are speaking OOC, such as: (( )), [ ] or ``.

ABBREVIATIONS
< s > = softly = very softly = quiet = whispers Do not type that your character whispers in the channel and direct message the text to someone. if it is not in the channel, it did not happen.

LEAVING A CHANNEL
To leave a channel, one must type something about physically leaving the area IC, and wait at least 30 seconds to quit the channel, in case someone tries to stop you IC.

The only exception to this being in combat, if you would like to leave the channel in combat, you must first ask the Storyteller running the combat. If you leave during a pivotal moment IC, without notice, you may have your character played by a Storyteller. So please do not do it.

GAME RELATED QUESTIONS
All game questions related to your character in general should be done within your Private Player channel. If involved in a storyline/scene/plot/event, there are channels setup to discuss things OOC wise without interrupting an IC channel. Please keep all OOC out of any IC channel.

Should you have a question concerning a concept you have in mind, please feel free to use the #character-thoughts channel. You are free to talk about things in the #general channel, but since this is our general chat.. might be easier not to so it doesn�t get lost amongst the rest of the chatter taking place in that channel

DIRECT MESSAGES
We do not allow any roleplay to be done in direct messages. ALL gaming must be done in a channel on the CAD server. This is so there are logs of all actions and the Storytellers can review scenes and see what has happened or what is going on in the game. This includes transfers of information (what the results of a dice roll are, what power effects are on a person, even basic questions about rules), IC phone calls, IC text messages, IC emails. EVERYTHING. Channels are set up for any purpose you might need, please use them properly.

TIME IN GAME
The in-game setting is considered always-night unless the scene is specifically stated to be a daytime scene. It is considered rude to leave a scene with a "it's getting light out" if there are other people who are staying in the channel and roleplaying, because it forces them to accept the time change. If everyone is leaving, then it can be done without a problem. In a larger scale, though, the date is today's date, the year is the current year. There is no alteration, expansion, or contraction, of the time scale here.

IN-GAME MECHANICS

WILLPOWER: USAGE & REPLENISHMENT
In addition to the Willpower rules in the V20 core book, Willpower may be used on any non-reflexive roll to gain one automatic success. Willpower may not be spent on any reflexive roll unless specifically stated in the V20 core book.

At the beginning of the month, all players will replenish 3 Willpower regardless of their chosen Nature/Demeanor. Any player that feels they have played their Nature/Demeanor well enough in a scene to regain a Willpower, can tag the Storytellers and ask them to review the scene and award Willpower if it's deemed appropriate.

FEEDING
Feeding rolls can be made once a day/night. You gain as many blood points as successes rolled. Any extra successes beyond what your character cna hold are lost. Rolls are always Attribute + Ability based on the type of feeding planned.

examples: Physical (attack): Strength + Athletics, (surprise/stalk) Dexterity + Stealth Social (seduction): Charisma + Expression/Empathy

Difficulty based on location, unless otherwise stated below, is always Difficulty 6.

Modifiers to dice pool: Herd adds offset to difficulty (minimum Diff 3) starting difficulty based on location; Domain (-dots), Prey Flaw (+ dots), Dominate (- dots), etc. Locations generally start at Difficulty 6, exceptions are listed below:

Difficulty 5: Citadel, Coptic Cairo, Cairo University, Ramses Station, Coptic Musem.

Difficulty 7: Beshtak, Cairo Tower, Egyptian Museum, Pharaonic Village, Sphinx, Tomb of Teti, Tulun Mosque.

Restricted: Elysiums, Greater Cairo Library

Caution (may cause PVP interaction): Lapis Ankh Gallery (private domain)(, Malvern College (Sabbat claimed), AUC (Settite Community), Cairo University (Tremere Chantry).

note: Excessive or violent feeding within location will not only cause breach in the Masquerade, but also damages the Rack, raising the difficulty of feeding.

Please ensure that you are making your hunting rolls in the hunting-dice channel, and please ensure that you provide the following information: Attribute + Ability pool using, and location. Hunt that accrue without any rules will be considered null and voided, meaning that no blood points will be capable of being obtained.

IMITATING LIFE
Characters may "pass as human" by purchasing the Merit: Blush of Life, or by spending one (1) blood point to imitate life [which lasts for a scene]. Please note that imitating life is considered a sin on certain Paths of Morality and will result in Degeneration checks. Please also note that doing this too often will get ugly rumors started about your character, as the Sabbat does not value mortals or mortality.

DIABLERIE
Rules for committing Diablerie are on page 293 of the V20 core book, and we are using those rules for how the act itself is done. The only difference is concerning the benefits of Diablerie compared to what is written in the core book. Assuming you succeed on your foul act of soul-sucking, if the victim's Generation is lower than yours then your Generation will lower by one level, and your blood pool and blood per turn amounts will change to reflect your new Generation. Additionally, the act of Diablerie will alter your own vitae in such a way that you have access to one of the In-Clan Disciplines of your victim, which will be treated in all ways as if it was an In-Clan Discipline for you and purchased at In-Clan Discipline costs.

Following a successful Diablerie, you will roll one die and based on the results of that roll the Storyteller in charge of that scene will inform you of what new Discipline you have unlocked.

note: characters that are found to be committing Diablerie just for the hell of it will meet bad ends.

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT
IT TAKES TIME
As a creature of the night, it is imperative that you constantly improve your skills and abilities to survive in this unforgiving environment. To aid in your growth, you are granted two actions every week, which can be used to enhance your abilities or assist your fellow kindred in doing the same. Utilizing these actions wisely is crucial to your success in Cairo After Dark.

Level One, two (2) actions.
Level Two, four (4) actions.
Level Three, six (6) actions.
Level Four, eight (8) actions.
Level Five, ten (10) actions.

We define actions as being items in which the Trait is being properly used during a scene or SL. This is where �It Takes Roleplaying� comes into effect.

IT TAKES ROLEPLAYING
In order to learn any new Trait, as a player you need to truly role play the experience out. This means that you will need to truly think about what you are attempting to do, and then be as detailed as possible with such. This also includes choosing a different location, circumstance, preparation, goals and the experience itself when training to increase a Trait, the same information can not be used.

This can be done within a scene or SL easily, as it could be a total of your posts done while using that Trait. This also means that you need to be posting within an open channel, not a private one. Also, it is recommended that either a Storyteller or another PC be involved as well.

LEARNING TRAITS (new or current)
Increasing existing Attributes and Abilities can be done readily and easily, so long as the character uses or practices the Attribute or Ability in question. Learning new Abilities is a bit more difficult. Even a vampire cannot pick up functioning legal knowledge or learn to fight if they do not know even the basics.

Players are permitted three (3) chances to either learn or increase a Trait. Information from both It Takes Time and It Takes Roleplaying are also required.

LEARNING & ADVANCING DISCPLINES (after character creation)
We have seen quite a few submissions with all three dots spent only one on Discipline and not others. There has been a lot of confusion on how to learn new Disciplines if a character did not start with a dot in a Discipline, even if they are an In-Clan Discipline. So, we offer the following for clarification:

In order to learn a new Discipline (or just a new level), Out-of-Clan, Blood Sorcery and Bloodline variants of In-Clan Disciplines, requires that the teacher feeds the student a point of their blood before instruction begins, to start the mystical tie to the Discipline being taught. Improving knowledge of a Discipline already known does not require such a transfer (although some unscrupulous teachers may claim that it�s still necessary). The time frame for such is the same as learning any other Traits or Ritual.. interaction must take place between the two characters for the equal amount of real-life days per the level you are looking to acquire.

EXAMPLE A Gangrel decides to teach a Brujah Fortitude. This is done by the Gangrel sharing blood within the Briujah, wrapping a rope/chain around the Brujah�s feet and dragging them around by way of a motorcycle or car.

The Brujah would be able to dedicate all three actions towards the learning of Fortitude, while the Gangrel would likewise be able to dedicate one action to teaching the Brujah. Thus interaction taking place between the student and Mentor, interaction by roleplaying is the key here.

If looking to advance an In-Clan discipline, of course this does not require a Mentor. But it does require that you put effort into how you are learning about this new ability. Reading up on the discipline in general, especially the level you are looking to advance to is highly important. From there, your actions should be done In-Character and within a scene or some sort of creative narrative.

Actions should have a metaphysical representation to the character�s mental focus on acquiring the new capabilities of Discipline.

note: It Takes Time and It Takes Roleplaying are still required.

LEARNING RITUALS
Learning a new Ritual (Thaumaturgy/Necromancy) costs ritual level x2, as long as it is a Clan-flavored discipline. If it is not Clan-flavored, the cost is ritual level x3. If a character does not possess the rituals at all, the cost is ritual level x4, to represent the complications that are inherited on adapting foreign rituals.