Feeding Guide
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A Guide To Our New Game
1. Sectors & Baronies
The city of Tampa and the available surrounding areas will be divided into a series of sectors. Prior to the venue’s start, players will be able to draft for varying sectors of the city that will be controlled by their character. The sectors selected can be kept as yours alone, or your character can pool his sector with those controlled by other characters to form a barony. When characters choose to form a barony, each character involved in the barony is considered to be the owner and controller of all sectors included in the barony.
Each sector has several characteristics attributed to it. First, each sector produces a number of free blood points at the beginning of each game. These free blood points represent the amount of blood that can be quickly and easily acquired without any threat to the Masquerade. These free blood points are used to determine how much blood an individual vampire or a group of vampires have to use during the game. You will note that some areas produce significantly more blood than others do. This is done to represent areas where feeding is especially easy.
Second, some sectors also produce modifiers to certain types of Allies or Contacts actions. These modifiers are called perks. For example, the Drew Park sector contains Tampa International Airport and thus provides a +3 bonus on actions related to transportation. However, in order to make use of the perk provided, your character must have at least one dot in Allies or Contacts that relates to the area the perk covers. So, your character can only apply the perk from the Drew Park sector if you undertake an Allies (Transportation) action or use your Contacts to gain information related to the area of transportation.
Finally, each sector requires a minimum number of vampires to fully control. Fully control means you have a general idea of what is going in your sector and that people won’t find it any easier to effect you or your sector. Most sectors only require one vampire to be fully controlled, but some sectors require two. If a sector is controlled by two vampires, both vampires must be in the same coterie. Vampires in opposing coteries cannot split or share control of a sector. A sector that require two vampires may be partially controlled by only one vampire, but the controlling character or coterie will suffer certain penalties. First, attempts to detect vampires raiding your sector for blood will suffer a -3 penalty. Also, any characters that target their Allies or Contacts towards you or your sector will receive a +2 bonus due to spying and treachery being so easy. Finally, only half of the blood generated by a partially controlled sector can be claimed for free. The remaining blood can be hunted by characters that partially control the sector or can be raided by other characters.
If opposing vampires vie for control of the same sector, that sector is considered contested. A contested sector reduces the amount of free blood it produces by half (round down). This lesser amount is then split equally among all of the contesting vampires. While a sector is contested it produces no perks whatsoever. The storyteller has the sole discretion to determine when a sector is no longer contested. Possible ways a sector might become uncontested again include the both sides of contesting vampires coming to an agreement that ends the conflict or one side contesting the sector ceases their efforts to take control.
In baronies comprised of multiple sectors, any characteristics are also pooled. In the case of free blood, all blood is pooled at the start of the night and divided amongst the vampires who control those sectors. If all players who portray the vampires of that barony are at game, they may divide the blood as they see fit. However, if one or more players from the barony are not present at game, missing characters take a fair share of the pooled blood first, and then the remaining characters split any remaining blood as they see fit (any remainders default to the characters at game first). For example, assume for a moment that four vampires share a barony of three sectors that produce a total of 30 blood points. Three of the four characters are present at game, but the fourth will not be present since the player is unavailable that week. 30 blood splits into four batches of 7 blood with 2 left over. The three characters will have 23 blood to split amongst themselves as they see fit.
Any perks produced by a sector in a pooled barony are available to any characters controlling the barony. For example, If John and Stacy control Westshore and Palma Ceia, both John and Stacy can make use of any perks produced by either Westshore or Palma Ceia. Pooled sectors that produce multiple perks can be stacked. For example, if your coterie owns two different sectors that each give a +2 perk on any actions related to the occult, your character could gain a +4 bonus on any Allies (Occult) actions he undertakes.
2. Feeding
You will quickly notice that your character will probably never have a full blood pool if he sustains himself solely off the blood generated by your sector. If you desire for your character to have more blood than whatever he gains for free from the sector, then your character must go feeding. Your character can gain blood in one of three styles: 1) hunting, 2) ravaging, or 3) raiding.
A. Hunting
Hunting is the term used to describe acquiring the free blood traits that are left unclaimed at the start of the game. Hunting comes in one of two options: hunting one of your own sectors that still has unclaimed blood or hunting an uncontrolled sector with unclaimed blood. If your sector has uncontrolled blood (typically because you were only able to claim half of the blood from a sector you do not totally control), you may choose to hunt inside that sector to fill your blood pool. Hunting in a sector you partially control is conducted like a normal hunting challenge. All hunting challenges involve the storyteller having you use an applicable Attribute and Skill to generate a pool that will then be added to the number you generate during challenge resolution. The target number for hunting is the standard difficulty of ten, and for each success you achieve your character gains one blood. You cannot gain more blood than there are points of free blood remaining. If you draw a one during challenge resolution, your character has failed to gain any blood during the hunt.
Similarly, just like a sector you control, any uncontrolled sectors will produce a number of blood points at the beginning of each game. These sectors are fair game for anyone to hunt in. However, as your character is not accustomed to hunting in these areas, your character must succeed in a hunting challenge at –2 penalty. The challenges for hunting in an uncontrolled are the same as described above except that you suffer a –2 penalty for hunting in an area you are unfamiliar with. Furthermore, if you draw a one during challenge resolution, your character has not only failed to gain any blood during the hunt, but something disastrous has also happened. Draw another number that the storyteller will use to determine the severity of your failure. You can expect your failure might cost you some of the precious blood your already have, subject you to a hellish plot, drop you into a deadly combat, or result in your character publicly breaking Masquerade. Please note that you cannot use any bonuses from Haven Location or Herd when hunting in a sector you do not partially or completely control, except when hunting in the uncontrolled sector designated as the Rack.
B. Ravaging
Sometimes your character may not be able to find a sector with no free blood unclaimed. The free blood your sector generates represents the amount of blood that can be safely taken without any threat to your character’s safety or the Masquerade. However, if you character still desires more blood and does not want to hunt outside of his sector or raid another group’s sector, then he must ravage a sector he controls. Ravaging represents your character taking risky actions to draw more blood from the local population that could result in a breach of the Masquerade. If you character decides to ravage his sector, conduct a normal hunting challenge as described above. Haven Location and Herd may be factored in for this challenge as the proximity of trustworthy vessels and secure places to ravage mortals help protect the Masquerade. However, if you draw a 1 during challenge resolution, your character has breached the Masquerade because too much feeding in one neighborhood has finally brought suspicion. The Storyteller has sole discretion to determine the level of the breach based on the nature of your ravaging scene. Your character suffers a –1 penalty for each time he attempts to ravage any sector after his first attempt.
C. Raiding
Raiding is the term for sneaking into another group’s sector and stealing some of the free blood they have yet to claim. It is expected that certain sectors may produce more blood than is needed by the characters who control them, or that some free blood will be unclaimed at the start of the game due to sectors being only partially controlled. You can choose to have your character raid another group’s sector to steal their unclaimed free blood. This presents the raiding vampire the first chance to claim any free blood still up for grabs. In order to do a raid, conduct a normal hunting challenge as described above (again, you suffer a –2 penalty and Haven Location and Herd do not apply in this challenge as you are working in an area you normally do not hunt in). If you generate any successes, you may take as much blood as your desire up to the limit of the remaining unused blood. However, immediately after taking blood, conduct another challenge with the Storyteller. This second challenge is to help the Storyteller determine how well your character sneaks into a rival’s sector and feeds without being detected. The challenge should be conducted as follows:
Wits + Stealth
+1 for Obfuscate 3 or higher
+1 for Majesty 3 or higher
+1 for Dominate 3 or higher.
-1 for each free blood point taken during the raid beyond the first
If you draw a 1 during the challenge to determine how stealthy your raid is, the vampires who control the sector automatically become aware that you have raided their sector and taken some of their precious blood. Otherwise, the Storyteller will record the number of successes you generate and will later conduct challenges with each controller of the sector present at game that night to see if anyone detects your raid. The challenge to detect a raid should be conducted as follows:
Intelligence + Investigation
+1 for Animalism 3 or higher
+1 for Auspex 3 or higher
+1 for every three points of Retainers
-3 for partially controlling the raided sector
If the any of the sector’s controllers generate more successes than the raiding vampire, then they discover that their area have been raided and will be given some clues to help them figure out who raided their sector. The value and clarity of the clues will depends on how many more successes they generated compared to the raiding vampire. If the raiding vampire generates more successes then all of the sector’s controllers attempting to detect him, he sneaks in and out of the sector without leaving any traces of his presence. When comparing the successes generated by all players involved, ties are resolved in favor of the raiding vampire.
3. Visitors
It is expected that characters from surrounding games will occasionally come to play in our game. We want to encourage people to visit as we feel it adds to our games, but we also want their characters to experience some of the same struggles Tampa vampires have to endure each night. Consequently, all visiting characters will be issued 8 free blood points at the beginning of any game. A visiting character is free to hunt and/or raid for any blood he wishes to have during game in excess of the free blood he was granted. Any attempts to hunt or raid are to resolve as described above
| Sector Name | Blood Produced /week | Perks | Control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adamo Dr | 6 | Transport +1, Crime +1, Industry +1 | 1 |
| Airport-Drew Park | 6 | Transport +3, University +2, Health +1, Industry +1 | 1 |
| Anderson Rd | 7 | Industry +2 | 1 |
| Carrollwood | 9 | Legal +2, Occult +1 | 1 |
| Countryway | 7 | Finance +1, Church +1 | 1 |
| College Hill | 7 | Crime +3, Health +1, Occult +1 | 1 |
| Davis Island | 8 | Health +2, High Society +2 (Prestigious Area) | 1 |
| Downtown | 10 | Police +3, Legal +3, Politics +3, City Hall +3, Finance +3 (Prestigious Area) | 2 |
| Egypt Lake | 9 | Health +3, Police +1 | 1 |
| Falkenburg Rd | 6 | Crime +1, Police +1, Finance +1, Industry +1, City Hall +1 | 1 |
| Hyde Park | 8 | High Society +3, Media +3 (Prestigious Area) | 1 |
| Lake Carroll | 8 | Church +3, Occult +2 | 1 |
| Lake Magdalene | 20 | Church +1, Legal +1 | 2 |
| Lutz | 10 | Church +1, Legal +1 | 1 |
| Town & Country | 20 | Church +1, Finance +1 | 2 |
| Orient Park | 7 | Police +2, Industry +1 | 1 |
| Palma Ceia | 9 | Politics +2, Health +1 | 1 |
| Port of Tampa | 6 | Industry +3, Transport +2, Crime +2 | 1 |
| Port Sutton-Palm River | 6 | Industry +2, Transport +2, Crime +2 | 1 |
| Rocky Point | 7 | Finance +2 | 1 |
| SOG-Ballast Point | 20 | Crime +1 | 2 |
| SOG-Picnic Island | 7 | Media +2, Transport +1, Crime +1 | 1 |
| Suitcase City | 9 | Crime +1, Occult +1 | 1 |
| Sulphur Springs | 9 | Occult +3, Police +1, Health +1 | 1 |
| Suwanee Ave | 22 | Crime +1, Occult +1 | 2 |
| Tampa Palms | 10 | Finance +1, Church +1 | 1 |
| Temple Terrace | 8 | Police +2, City Hall +2, Politics +2 | 1 |
| Vandenburg Airport | 8 | Transport +1, Industry +1 | 1 |
| West Tampa | 8 | University +2, Legal +1 | 1 |
| Westchase | 9 | Occult +2, Church +1 | 1 |
| Westshore | 8 | Finance +2, Legal +2, Health +1 | 1 |
| USF | 8 | University +3, Health +2 | 1 |
| Ybor City | ??? | Free feeding | N/A |