So you want to play this game? Epic. Here is what you need to know.

1. Browse through the cast. Find up to three potential sires for your character that you like, and give me a brief (3-5 Sentences) character concept on what you would like to play. Your character will not be more then 25 years as a kindred without special circumstances. Don't bother wasting our time with absurd character concepts please. No, you're not going to be an Abomination. No you're not going to be a Tzimisce in a city run by the Tremere. You didn't diablerize your sire either.
   
   
2. You get 7/5/3, 13/9/5, 5 Backgrounds (you may not purchase Generation*), 3 disciplines (one dot must be put into each clan discipline), 7 virtues (no Courage 5 to start). You may have a total of 7 points in Merits & Flaws combined.
   
   Camarilla Characters get 25 Freebie points.
   Anarch Characters get 15 Freebie points.
   
   
3. You must be familiar with the House Rules. By sending an RTJ to this game, you are acknowledging that you did in fact read them, understand them, and agree to abide by them.
   
   
4. Influence is capped at 2 dots per influence at character creation.
   
   
5. Thaumaturgy starts on the Path of blood, no exceptions. You must have at least three dots in Path of Blood before you can learn a new path. New Paths cost 4 freebie points per dot. They are raised with experience at 7 exp for the first dot, and current rating x4 for each additional dot. Rituals cost 1 freebie point per level, and are bought with experience at 2exp per level. You start with 2 levels of rituals per dot in Thaumaturgy at character creation.
   
   
6. Nature and Demeanor have been dropped in favor of the Virtue and Vice system from the nWoD. It works as follows: The Virtues are the heavenly Virtues - Charity, Faith, Fortitude, Hope, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance. Role-playing through a difficult situation in accordance with your character's Virtue gives you back all of your spent Willpower. The Vices are the seven deadly sins, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, & Wrath. When you give into your PC's vice, regardless of the consequences, you pick up two points of spent willpower.

* Generation is assigned based on who your Sire ends up being. We are not going to tell you the Generation of an NPC before you pick, so don't ask. At best we'll ignore it, at worst, we'll lie.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:51, Mon 24 Dec 2012.

Banned Merits & Flaws: Unbondable, Magic Resistance, Blase, Iron Will, and any others I find are crap as we develop your character.

Allowed Clans: Assamite, Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue, Giovanni, Caitiff, Setite

Banned Clans: Any Antitribu, True Brujah, Old Clan Tzimisce, Nagarajah, Salubri of any flavor, Baali...

Camarilla Capped Clans: Assamites, Tremere

Anarch Capped Clans: Followers of Set, Gangrel

Recommended Clans: Brujah, Malkavian, Gangrel, Nosferatu, Toreador, Caitiff

---

Banned Merits & Flaws: Iron Will, Unbondable, Blase, Misplaced Heart, Magic Resistance, and any others I find are broken pieces of poo on the way.

A Word On Backgrounds:

If you take Mentor, Influence, Contacts, Allies, Resources, etc... You will need to do some work. A sentence or two on who, what, and where these things came from and what they do. Don't just tell me you have Influence 3 and its in Transportation. Is it commercial Transportation? Port Authority? Bus system? Subways? Taxi company? Car dealership? A small trucking or delivery company? For more info see the House Rules.

A Word On Spending Those Freebies Points:

When I see character sheets missing traits we all have it kind of bugs me. Every character should probably have at least a dot in Drive. Without that dot in Drive your character cannot drive a car. Everyone should probably have a dot in Academics. Without a dot in Academics your character did not graduate High School. Think about the last time you talked to someone who didn't graduate High School. You could tell couldn't you? Think very carefully about what those traits say about your character. I understand you can't do a perfect job at it. Do what you can, but don't over look the obvious stuff either.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:45, Wed 30 Jan 2013.

A short biography / background of your character is mandatory here at CBN. This background should primarily focus on their mortal life as most of you will be playing newly embraced, or very young Kindred.

Here are a few questions to think about while you write. Not all of them need to be answered, in fact, you could answer a completely different set of questions. This list is by no means exhaustive. The point is, the more details like these you put into your character the better your character is going to be.

• Did your PC suffer through anything traumatic?
• The death of a sibling, parent, close friend, or even a family pet?
• How did your character cope with it?
• Who, or what, did they turn to? Did they have a family?
• Were they close to their family?
• Were they abusive, or loving?
• Were they a good parent, child, husband or wife?
• What work did they do? Was it what they loved doing or was it just a pay check?
• Were they workaholics, or did they slack?
• Did they have one steady job or did they have many short ones?
• Did they travel a lot?
• Are they a native Charlotteane, or from somewhere else entirely?
• Who were their closest friends?
• How was their embraced handled?
• Was their death faked, or did they simply drop off the planet?
• Is their family likely to still be looking for them?
• What about their friends?
• Did they leave children behind?

The next thing we're asking is that you keep this as short as possible. I know we just asked you to think about a whole lot, but quality writing over quantity. Be concise. Keep it simple. Please do not waste your time writing a short story. We will not read it. Two or three, four if you must, short paragraphs should do.

You are encouraged to go back and expand on your Background later. Let us know what changes you made and we'll take a look. If we like it we will reward you in some fashion for the extra work. Maybe with Experience, maybe with in game rewards...

---

SHORT AND LONG TERM GOALS

Three or four (each) Short and Long term goals are mandatory. These goals do not have to involve things your character would know about. Instead they should be things you,the player, are interested in. They can be as realistic or fantastic as you like. I can find just as many plot devices with, "Take over the NYC docks," as a I can, "Find the Ark of the Covenant."

I recommend making most of these realistic in nature. Completing goals will result in substantial EXP rewards versus simply completing threads. Think of them like missions in a typical sandbox RPG: Sure, you can wander around the Capital Wasteland grinding to that next level, or you can do that quest Amata gave you when you went back to Vault 101. Likewise having some purely for the RP will also have substantial rewards. Here is an example:

Short Term Goals

1. Find a new haven.
   
2. Get accepted by the Prince.
   
3. Impress my Sire.
   
4. Find other Kindred interested in Kindred history.

Long Term Goals

1. Impress the Prince.
   
2. Gain Influence over Manhattan College.
   
3. Find / translate a piece of the Book of Nod.

This message was last edited by the GM at 06:02, Mon 16 July 2012.

Below is the only acceptable sheet for this game. If your sheet is on another template when you submit it for review it will be rejected without us even looking at it. Before you attempt to fill this out on your own you will want to look at the next post for an example and description of a really good sheet. This is easily the lengthiest part of the character creation process here, and that post will help speed it up.

When you post it into your Character's Sheet section remember to use the < tt > and < / tt > tags (remove the spaces) to preserve the alignment. When you submit the sheet in PM don't worry if it won't align properly.


When you fill in a section with lines just delete the lines. Ex:


DO THIS

Resources / Influence
I rob ATM machines every few months for money. My Influence is in the local waste
disposal company, particularly the branch assigned to the BofA building in downtown.



NOT THIS

Resources / Influence
I_rob_ATM_machines_every_few_months_for_money._My_Influence_is_in_the_local_waste___
disposal_company,_particularly_the_branch_assigned_to_the_BofA_building_in_downtown.

>

---

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:                          Virtue:                Generation: ?
Player:                        Vice:                  Haven:
Chronicle: Charlotte by Night  Clan:                  Concept:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   7/5/3  Physical                  Social                      Mental
Strength             @OOOO Charisma             @OOOO Perception           @OOOO
Dexterity            @OOOO Manipulation         @OOOO Intelligence         @OOOO
Stamina              @OOOO Appearance           @OOOO Wits                 @OOOO
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   13/9/5 Talents                 Skills                   Knowledges
Alertness            OOOOO Animal Ken           OOOOO Academics            OOOOO
Athletics            OOOOO Crafts               OOOOO Computers            OOOOO
Brawl                OOOOO Drive                OOOOO Finance              OOOOO
Dodge                OOOOO Etiquette            OOOOO Investigation        OOOOO
Empathy              OOOOO Firearms             OOOOO Law                  OOOOO
Expression           OOOOO Melee                OOOOO Linguistics          OOOOO
Intimidation         OOOOO Performance          OOOOO Medicine             OOOOO
Leadership           OOOOO Security             OOOOO Occult               OOOOO
Streetwise           OOOOO Stealth              OOOOO Politics             OOOOO
Subterfuge           OOOOO Survival             OOOOO Science              OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Backgrounds 5             Disciplines 3               Virtues 7
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO Conscience           @OOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO Self-Control         @OOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO Courage              @OOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO FREEBIES          : ____
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO FREEIBES SPENT    : ____

     Merits/Flaws               Path of _Humanity_               Health
_CLN_ _____________________
_____ _____________________                                Bruised           []
_____ _____________________    @ @ O O O  O O O O O        Hurt         -1   []
_____ _____________________                                Injured      -1   []
_____ _____________________          Willpower             Wounded      -2   []
_____ _____________________    @ O O O O  O O O O O        Mauled       -3   []
_____ _____________________    [][][][][][][][][][]        Crippled     -5   []
_____ _____________________                                Incapacitated     []
_____ _____________________          Bloodpool
_____ _____________________    [][][][][][][][][][]
_____ _____________________    [][][][][][][][][][]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Inventory
    Weapon                 Dmg   Range                      Other
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
                                            ____________________________________
    Armor    Bashing Lethal Aggravated      ____________________________________
____________ _______ ______ __________      ____________________________________
____________ _______ ______ __________      ____________________________________
____________ _______ ______ __________      ____________________________________

Retainer                       Purpose
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________

Transportation
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

Allies                         Relationship
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
Contacts                       Purpose
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________

Herd
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

Resources / Influence
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

     Boons                      Type        Blood Bond/Vaulderie  Drinks/Rating
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________

                 Haven                                    Location
______________________________________________ _________________________________
______________________________________________ _________________________________
______________________________________________ _________________________________


Languages_______________________________________________________________________

Anything_Missing________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 AVAILABLE EXPERIENCE POINTS
--------------------------------
     SPENT EXP BREAK DOWN
EXP     PURCHASED      DATE

--------------------------------
     Spent EXP Total

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:12, Thu 31 Jan 2013.

Below is the character sheet for a player that was nice enough to allow me to use it as an example for this post. Some of the data has been changed to avoid giving out more information than necessary about the character. Even so that player deserves a shout out: Thank you! They know who they are.

This post is a brief walk through on how to create a character sheet for this game. This tends to be the most difficult portion of the process for players here, and often the most frustrating for players and us Storytellers. Hopefully this post will help smooth the process out. I will break the sheet down by section and post my notes between the sections explaining what.

---

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Player Character         Virtue: Patience     Generation: 13th
Player: Cool Person            Vice: Envy           Haven: Boutique
Chronicle: CBN Anarch          Clan: Caitif         Concept: Neo Soul Charlatan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above is all pretty straight forward. The concept is pretty concise. This is good, and it does a pretty good job describing the character. Char name, Player name, Clan, and Generation have been changed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   7/5/3  Physical                  Social                      Mental
Strength             @@OOO Charisma             @@OOO Perception           @@@@O
Dexterity            @@OOO Manipulation         @@@OO Intelligence         @@OOO
Stamina              @@OOO Appearance           @@@OO Wits                 @@@@O
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Attributes are at least two. This is huge. A stat of one is so abysmally bad that it's almost unheard of, especially in Physicals. As an example, a one in Strength means you cannot lift more than 40 pounds. Stamina of 1 means you're not going to get very far in a fight or running... No freebies were spent here, and we usually recommend it, but this is still a really good spread for the concept. We recommend freebies be spent on Attributes because they almost always pair with another trait when rolling. You are almost always better served raising an Attribute over an Ability.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   13/9/5 Talents                 Skills                   Knowledges
Alertness            @@OOO Animal Ken           OOOOO Academics            @OOOO
Athletics            @@OOO Crafts               @@OOO Computers            @@OOO
Brawl                @@OOO Drive                @OOOO Finance              @OOOO
Dodge                @OOOO Etiquette            @OOOO Investigation        OOOOO
Empathy              @OOOO Firearms             @OOOO Law                  @OOOO
Expression           OOOOO Melee                @OOOO Linguistics          OOOOO
Intimidation         OOOOO Performance          OOOOO Medicine             @@OOO
Leadership           @OOOO Security             @OOOO Occult               @OOOO
Streetwise           @@OOO Stealth              @OOOO Politics             OOOOO
Subterfuge           @@OOO Survival             OOOOO Science              @OOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO ____________________ OOOOO

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not a lot of Freebies spent here either, but look at that spread! Remember,
having 0 in an Ability means you practically have no skill in it. Zero in Academics
makes your character all but illiterate. Drive zero means you cannot drive a car.
At this phase you are always better served rounding out your character than you are
trying to pump 2 or 3 traits to 4 or 5. Abilities are cheap with EXP, which means it'll be really easy to come back and snag that 4 or even 5 in Leadership later. Jedi and I (me more than him), are fond of looking at a sheet and making you roll something you don't have that we feel like maybe you should. Obviously you're not going to get everything, but you want as much as you can. This player did a fantastic job of laying the foundation for the traits they want to beef up and still covering all of their bases.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Backgrounds 5             Disciplines 3               Virtues 7
Allies______________ @@OOO   Obfuscate_________ @OOOO Conscience           @@@OO
Contacts____________ @@OOO   Presence__________ @OOOO
Haven_______________ @OOOO   Celerity__________ @OOOO
Herd________________ @@OOO   __________________ OOOOO Self-Control         @@@@O
Resources___________ @@OOO   __________________ OOOOO
Influence: society__ @OOOO   __________________ OOOOO
Influence: street___ @OOOO   __________________ OOOOO Courage              @@@OO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO FREEBIES          : 15__
____________________ OOOOO   __________________ OOOOO FREEIBES SPENT    : 15__

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This player opted to buff up a lot of Backgrounds with their Freebie points. This is perfectly acceptable. They have quite a few, but nothing is in unacceptable ranges. Disciplines are 1 in each just like we mandate. Courage isn't at 4 or 5. Five is not only against the rules but would not fit this character at all. The Freebie calculator was used. It could've been wiped out after the sheet was approved, but this is a quick tool to help you keep track of them. If you still struggle, and we may ask for it anyway, you can use the Experience Tracker to do this same thing. This is especially helpful if it's taking us several versions to get the sheet right.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Merits/Flaws               Path of _Humanity_               Health
_CLN_ Severe allergy: light
+1___ Common Sense_________                                Bruised           []
+1___ Lightning Calculator_    @ @ @ @ @  @ @ O O O        Hurt         -1   []
+1___ Ambidextrous_________                                Injured      -1   []
+2___ Enchanting Voice_____          Willpower             Wounded      -2   []
-1___ Soft Hearted_________    @ @ @ @ @  @ O O O O        Mauled       -3   []
_____ _____________________    [][][][][][][][][][]        Crippled     -5   []
_____ _____________________                                Incapacitated     []
_____ _____________________          Bloodpool
_____ _____________________    [x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x][x]
_____ _____________________    [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few Freebies were spent on Willpower. I always recommend starting with at least a 5. Remember, there are a lot of powers that use Permanent Willpower as their difficulty. It's never a bad thing to throw a Freebie point or two at this to get another dot in there. However, if you cannot, don't worry. Willpower is not very expensive with EXP. Bloodpool is all marked out like it should be, indicating a full Bloodpool.

Merits and Flaws here deserve some extra attention. You can see this Player opted to beef up on them. All of these are good, and fit the character. Common Sense was picked up, and is recommended for players new to how we play things because it allows us to step in and advise you a little. We only allow seven points, combined, in Merits and Flaws. Convert the -1 from the Flaw Soft Hearted into a positive number and add them up: 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 6. This player had 1 point left over before capping their Merits and Flaws.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Inventory
    Weapon                 Dmg   Range                      Other
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
________________________ _______ _____      ____________________________________
                                            ____________________________________
    Armor    Bashing Lethal Aggravated      ____________________________________
____________ _______ ______ __________      ____________________________________
____________ _______ ______ __________      ____________________________________
____________ _______ ______ __________      ____________________________________

Retainer                       Purpose
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________

Transportation
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

Allies                         Relationship
Kiki Kayuni-Biggs_____________ Distant cousin and former boss, hair salon owner_
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
Contacts                       Purpose
D'Sean Alford_________________ Ex-boyfriend, dealer and gang leader_____________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________
______________________________ _________________________________________________

Herd
PC' herd is her clientele. She practices "aromatherapy relaxation techniques"
and charges them for the experience. Anyone in the neighborhood in need of a
quick sitter will find that she's "good with kids."
________________________________________________________________________________

Resources / Influence
PC still works at her cousin's salon, same as her mortal days. Now she
takes the customers who come after sunset, the ones who constantly miss
appointments because of work or daycare issues. She gets a bit extra in tips
and locks the shop up. She and NPC also allow small-time entrepreneur friends
to sell at a counter near the register: bootleg movies, handmade jewelry
and toiletries, food. All legal items in the daytime. A few illicit at night.
They each take a cut. Genesis' clients are from middle to low class backgrounds.

Society: PC is very close to her mortal life. She keeps up with the trends
and events that people she knows would attend because it's good for business.

Street: PC and D'Sean haven't officially broken up. She still acknowledges
and interacts with people who were in and around his gang.


     Boons                      Type        Blood Bond/Vaulderie  Drinks/Rating
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________
_____________________________ ________      _____________________ ______________

                 Haven                                    Location
PC sleeps in the basement of a salon.          _________________________________
Sometimes she'll crash at a friend's.          _________________________________
______________________________________________ _________________________________


Languages_______________________________________________________________________

Anything_Missing________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This whole area is pretty straight forward. Appropriate sections are filled in. The inventory section can be skipped because it should be filled in on the Description anyway. Especially important are the Descriptions of all of the backgrounds. Just a sentence or two is perfectly fine, and that's what we have here. Clear. Concise. Perfect.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---

0 AVAILABLE EXPERIENCE POINTS
--------------------------------
     SPENT EXP BREAK DOWN
EXP     PURCHASED      DATE

--------------------------------
0    Spent EXP Total

---

Goals.
Short term
1. Find a new haven
2. Drive more traffic to blog
3. Build rapport with fellow Kindred
4. Begin studying botany

Long term
1. Build up herd through clients and fan base
2. Publish a book
3. Start a cult under the guise of a homeopathic center
4. Study with African Kindred historians
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Experience Tracker has the samples cleared out and it's ready to go. Of note here though are the short and long term goals. These are required. These are instant story lines you can be working on, and we do expect a little proactive work here. Not all of these need to be done in down time. None of these goals are particularly outlandish, but those are perfectly acceptable as well.

---

That's it. Follow these guidelines and you'll find that getting through the character creation process is much less tedious than it sounds. Jedi and I work very, very hard to not set you any player up for failure. Creating a Character Sheet may be our second line of defense (the first being your concept) but it is absolutely our best line of defense. We pull sheets apart so harshly because we want your character to be the best it can be off gate and on the right road for what you want to do. You won't get all your cool powers off gate, but you don't need them... Not right away.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:11, Thu 31 Jan 2013.