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Game sessions occur once every two weeks, and each is called a Chapter. Several Chapters together are called a Story. Each Story has a title and focus, with certain themes or plots that are highlighted. They can run from one to eight Chapters. Some character mechanics are tied to Chapters or Stories, and certain things happen at the start and end of them. Here’s an overview, starting with a typical Chapter.

A Game Session

4pm - Doors open

Players should arrive near 4pm, especially if you have filed declarations (see “Between Chapters” below). It assists game if people arrive early enough to run through sheet changes and informative draws before game starts at 5pm. This is especially important for the first Chapter of a new Story, which is when Experience points are tallied and most people make purchases.

During this time, feel free to have scenes, especially one-on-one scenes and discussions in character. This should be casual and non-mechanics oriented, as people may not have their character sheets yet. This is called “soft roleplay.”

  • Do: Sign in on the Signin sheet, located near the back door. The sheet is salmon pink.
  • Do: Pick up your character sheet, a pencil, and a set of cards from the table.
  • If it is your first game, we will help you get involved during this time. Look for the green “Requiem Worksheet” starter sheets. You can also download them here.
  • Note that there is a game slot prior to Requiem that ends at 4pm, but may still be finishing if you arrive right at 4pm. Please be courteous and do not interrupt their event.

5pm - Start of Game

At 5pm players are gathered for a very brief opening meeting with any key announcements for that game. This also starts the beginning of “hard roleplay,” meaning that – while players may always choose to consensually narrarate their stories – conflicts may be resolved through card draws, with serious ramifications for the characters involved. If the ramifications are serious or contested, feel free to ask a member of staff (the Storyteller or a Narrator) to help run the scene.

Around 7pm, food is often provided to keep the social aspect of the game moving forward. Feel free to incorporate this into your scenes, using a table and/or room as a dinner gathering in character. Vampires chatting about power shifts and political manuvers, or debating the philosophies of Covenants over a meal is dead on point for virtually every Story.

At 9:40pm or so, last scenes should begin.

  • Do: Be bold and create new scenes. You do not need a Storyteller or Narrator for most scenes. Create a place, a purpose for the scene, ask fellow players to portray NPCs, and otherwise populate the scene. If it aims to get information that only Staff would know, run the scene, and then approach a Staff member with a summary of the scene. This also applies to rituals, weird science experiments, or other scenes. Running a scene always improves your chances: it may mean automatic success, and if a draw is still needed, the pool will be increased.
  • Don’t: Be a “lone wolf.” While a lone figure is tragic and flavorful in fiction, it is how they interact with others that creates story. If you do a scene, involve other players and their characters. If your character concept is a loner, feel free to assume they are on their own between games and it is the urgency of the moment that causes them to reluctantly work with others.

10pm - Game End and Afters

At 10pm, game ends. Any scenes that run late are considered soft RP after 10pm, and players must write their characters’ stories to a conclusion. This can be simply by stating out of character what happens rather than roleplaying it out, should you run out of time. While soft RP discussions and meetings can occur via chat between Chapters (see below), the end of game is essentially the end of “Saturday night,” and should be wrapped at that point. If players can not or will not do so, staff will write the end of the scene for them as needed.

Occasionally a climatic scene for the Story will run late. At 10pm, if the entire player base is engaged in a major culmination, the players will be polled to see if the group wishes to run over time (usually in 15 minute increments). This is rare, but can occur a couple times a year.

Often a short wrap up scene will occur. This is a matter of just a few minutes, and typically gathers all characters. A few final words are stated and in character declarations are made. It’s basically an in-character summary and complement to the player meeting that follows.

There is a player meeting at the end of game during which people give “whuffies” to three other players – three people who you believed improved the experience of game. This may be for roleplaying, or it could be because they helped new players, or even for things like helping clean up. Try to keep an eye out for quieter players who may be overlooked. During the meeting announcements are made and the upcoming schedule given. If you have an announcement or question that seems relevant to everybody, an opportunity will be given to let everybody speak up.

“Afters” is a tradition among LARPers to “decompress” from their characters and have an opportunity to engage each other socially as players rather than characters. It’s simply going to a late night dinner or just coffee together. It is a relaxing, bonding, and relaxing activity. There is no formal aspect to it, and it is typically planned right after the final meeting as people are leaving.

Between Chapters

Scenes may run online in Hangouts and Google Docs. Hangouts scenes are soft roleplay, and develop and deepen character relationships. If it is significant to game, it should be played during game1. Google Docs are collaborative fiction writing, and are an excellent method to create a narrative story around a long term extended action that a single or group of characters are working on. In both cases, make sure to add the Storyteller to the chat or document so that it is accounted for in the overall game.

For time purposes, all online scenes are generically “between games” and occur in the same order they do in real life. This is due to the fact that a fifteen minute discussion in game time may take place over three days or longer, if one or both of the players are unable to reply back due to work, sleep, or other considerations. Do not play in two scenes at once to avoid triangle chat: having two or more scenes running at the same time that are informing each other or informing another scene. You may, of course, introduce a new character to an existing scene.

If your character does things between Chapters or if you as a player have questions or otherwise wish to communicate with the staff, there is an online form that can be used to submit declarations and Extended Actions.

Extended Actions are covered in both the Requiem and Chronicles of Darkness book and are actions that take time between draws. Sometimes these are draws that are done minutes apart, or once per scene. Others take days or a week between draws, and that is what these are for. These are also used for pre-cast rituals, miracles, and other things that require draws that are done prior to entering play. You may do as many of these as you have dots of Resolve.

If you have retainers, you may also declare a single action for them to do here as well. (Note: in the past this was limited to 4 or 5 dot retainers. This restriction has been lifted.)

  1. This is for several reasons, including the fact that not everybody has time to play throughout the week, and it is unfair to those players to come back to game and the story has progressed without them. This is also a LARP, and so we keep the focus on the event, not as an online game.

    Note that online sessions may occasionally happen, specifically for certain groups that need specific types of scenes for their advancement. These specialized sessions are online to avoid having a game be completely focused on just a few players. ↩