Rules Contest of Will

THE RULES FOR THE CONTEST OF WILL

The Contest of Will has rounds that each player must navigate through to get to the next round. A round doesn't end when the first player completes it. So every player must go through every round. It is possible for one player to be on Round 50, and a new player joining us to be on Round 1. While the current list of prizes may make it seem that players who start later can't get anything good, I have plans for how to reward players who will join us later.

The Story of the game will happen in Chapters. A round in the tournament and a Chapter in the story have nothing to do with one another, and are not time sensitive to one another. The story is the big fiction that I am weaving all of the stories of the chronicle around. Events will trigger plot advances. At the end of each Chapter of the story, players regain Willpower and the game environment will have likely changed in some profound way, with certain NPC's gaining huge advantages, and others crashing and burning and potentially even being eliminated entirely from the storyline.

While I have a general idea about the plot, this is a living world. I am going to, in general, have all of the NPC's respond to the players' actions. I honestly don't know which candidates for Prince will live, who will die, and who will end up Prince of Chicago. I honestly don't know who the players will end up making alliances with, and who will become their sworn enemies. What I currently think might happen may shift dramatically as events occur. I will talk about this at length in my discussion about a Living World Campaign as opposed to a Stagnant World campaign. That will be worth your reading time.

I am not going to deal with the story of the game any longer in this area. I simply wanted to clarify the difference between the two things. Let me now explain how the logistics of the Contest of Will are handled. Every player, as well as the NPC competitors, all start off in The Hotel with $25,000 in their Cash Bank (explained in detail below, don't worry), zero points and a requirement to use The Hotel as a base and Haven, even though it is broken and dirty and has no security. Yikes!

Now you are in Round 1. When you consult the Round One Task list it is broken into two categories: Required Tasks and Fun-Time Tasks. In order to compete properly, you need to follow the guidelines for each round. This will lead to you gaining assets, power, prestige, and influence over the Indiana-Illinois region currently featured in the game. More game areas may open up over time, but there is more than enough to do in this region, for now, I assure you.

I will have the list broken up into different categories. Adventure Tasks generally mean that they are meant to be role-played out in live gaming sessions. There may be a group play session that you can't make where players complete the task and get the checkmark. You will want to catch up as soon as you can by playing a solo session with me, to get that checkmark. If that can't be done due to your schedule, then you can use one of your three roleplay strategies for the week and complete the task via e-mail, and we'll likely do the adventure together in a back and forth e-mail play.

We will use the scheduling program Doodle to plan RP sessions. When I send you the Doodle invite, please plug in your schedule as soon as possible so I can see when players can show up for sessions. I may book 2 or 3 different sets of players to run the same adventure as each other at different times to get things done. The sooner you put your schedule on Doodle, the easier you make things for everyone.

What will be nice about this campaign is that you can play it however you prefer, as a solo operative or being involved with the other players. We are all adults and busy people, so I have attempted to configure a game that caters to everyone. If your time changes from free to busy, you are not out of the game, as you can simply play via e-mail and the occassional solo session when you are able.

That being said, a lot of the big laughs in this game will come from your interaction with each other during the live game sessions. These will be relatively insane as I like to do things big in live sessions. Why play a fantastical game of Elder undead beings if you aren't going to go the full monty? There will be sessions that are full on political intrigue as you get dragged into the chess match for the Princeship of Chicago, or the schemes of one clan or vampire over another. There are big mysteries all over the region that need to be solved. There will also be major problems in Gary and Chicago that threaten the Masquerade, and which the players need to be the ones to fix. All of this will be tied into the Contest of Will, but you can have personal and clan goals as well that will need to get accomplished, and yes, you can recruit your fellow players via the Prestation rules to do a session with you. Please consult the Requesting an Adventure Page for specific information how to do this correctly.

Many game masters write adventures and then force the players in their campaign into it. There will be, by necessity, a few adventures that take place because of events that are triggered that supersede everything else and which the players will need to deal with. But, for the most part in this campaign you are in control. You should confer and decide what Task you want to try to do for a game session, and then I can build that adventure fully, and then we can play it out. Some will be cooperative, some will be competitive. Others will simply be information gathering where you delve into the secrets of the city, or help each other complete a Clan Mission. Whatever you want to do, I will allow you to try it.

Strategy Tasks mean that you should use one of your Strategies to get it done. You have three Strategies you can employ each week, via e-mail. Note that opting for a solo session to roleplay it out will mean you save a strategy. Of course, I will have to be available for that to happen, and that won't always be the case. I have a life too. Even when using a strategy, I may need clarification or you might need to make a dice roll to see if you succeed, so we may need to meet for a quick 10-20 minute solo session on Google Hangouts.

The lists are generally non-sequential. That is, you can do any task in any order. The goal is to complete all of the Required Tasks but this is an open ended game where you can play to your strengths.

To advance in the Contest of Will, you MUST complete all of the Required Tasks for the round you are in. There are also other activities, which Mr. Confetti labels "Fun-Time Activities." Since he is an insane Malkavian with no sense of fear, his sense of "fun" is a little different from most. The Fun-Time activities will also be broken up between Adventure Tasks and Strategy Tasks. Players with similar schedules that can rp together based on Doodle should confer and decide if you want to try a Fun-Time Activity together. I will have to craft the adventure so the more advance notice I have the better.

Solo versus Cooperative versus Competive Tasks

Secrecy is a major part of this game. While the other players will learn what your assets are as part of the game, they may not know about your overall agenda. You will have clan goals and you will eventually pick a candiate for Prince and attempt to help that candidate to win! You may also need to go on solo missions to advance your own cause in the Contest of Will, or to complete an act of Prestation for an NPC or even a fellow player who sends you out on a task on his or her behalf. Much of the solo stuff can be handled via e-mail, but often it is more fun to roleplay it out, and you can meet me on Google Hangouts privately to make this happen. This is also a good option if you simply can't make any of the sessions other players are available for and want to get some roleplay in.

There are also tasks where the players should try and work together to complete it, called Cooperative Tasks, and everyone who participates gets credit and the prize(s) involved. In Competitive tasks, all players active for the gaming session will compete against each other to complete the task. There may only be one or several winners who get the prize(s) with the others losing out. Them's the breaks. There will be both cooperative and competitive tasks that are Adventure Tasks and those that are Strategic, again both in the Required and the Fun-Time Tasks.

So, to break all of this down and recap it....

There are two lists of tasks - The Required Task list which you must complete every item of, in a non-linear order at your discretion to advance to the subsequent round. The Fun-Time Activities are optional but grant major points and prizes for those who do them.

Within the Required and Fun-Time tasks there are different kinds of tasks. There are Adventure Tasks which are meant to be actually roleplayed out in live sessions on Google hangouts, or if that isn't possible, via private e-mail play between me and the player. Strategic Tasks are specifically meant to be handled via e-mail play, but there are times when you can request doing it via solo rp and save one of your three Strategies for the week.

Within all of that, there are Solo tasks you will do all by your players' lonesome, cooperative tasks where PC's will work together to get the job done, and competitive tasks where the PC's will try and complete the task while competing against the other PC's.

As you can see, this will be a diverse competition where one night a player will be your best ally and the next, your fiercest rival. That's Vampire!

How to Gain Points in the Contest of Will

Gaining points in the Contest of Will may seem like a silly pursuit that most immortal Elder Kindred would sneer at. Yes, that's true, actually. But Mr. Confetti has chosen his competitors very carefully. For whatever reason, every competitor, both player and NPC is bored with their existence, and this is exactly what they need right now. For fun or profit, or just to feel alive again, everyone wants those points.

Points get you bragging rights, but they also get you Prizes. There is a leaderboard, and there will be benchmarks where you can turn in your points when you reach enough. And those benchmark prizes will be fantastic. Not to be missed.

So you want to accrue as many points as possible. Here's how:

Required Tasks - This is obvious. You have to do these to advance anyway, and generally, every single player will get the same exact amount of points for them. Not too exciting, but an important part of the game. ALL required tasks will be available to be performed through strategy emails, otherwise people who haven't the time for live roleplaying would never be able to advance past their current round and would be stuck. So, all required tasks in every round will be passable through e-mail play, though the live adventure session versions will obviously be filled with more gunfire and explosions, likely.

Fun Time Tasks - Mr. Confetti has a bunch of special quests you can do every round on his list. You can only initiate a fun-time task if you are in the round the task is in or above. That is, if you are in Round 3 you can still do Fun-Time tasks that are open from rounds 1 and 2.

In addition, any player that initiates a fun-time task can bring all the PC's with him on that quest, even if they are ineligible to open the quest because they haven't advanced. As an example, let's say that Graham has advanced to round 3. He sees some great looking adventures for game sessions available in Round 3's Fun-time list but knows he can't solo them and doesn't want to anyway, because this is a game and the fun is playing it together.

He advertises to the other players that he is making it available as the next adventure if enough players vote for it over the other possible adventures available. That happens, and it is chosen as the adventure for the session. Now, every player who can make the session can get the points for doing the fun-time task.

So, even if a player is on round 50 and another player is on round 3, they can do all of the fun-time tasks quests together. Essentially, the first player to open a round opens a bunch of new quests for everyone playing the game to enjoy.

Grapevine Quests - There is a third category of possible quests that you can earn points for that Mr. Confetti is calling Grapevine Quests. Once the group starts making a splash in the region and prove themselves to be capable at assisting Kindred in their goals, then NPC's will approach Mr. Confetti or even your characters to request help with certain matters. These might be personal matters, clan matters, or even Camarilla faction matters. They may be playable as live roleplay adventures, or doable through Strategy or Roleplay Emails -- again its important that players who are only engaging in the role-play aspects of this game have access to as much of the game as possible.

Grapevine Quests will be worth points as assigned by Mr. Confetti, and there may be other rewards too. Eventually, there may be so many Grapevine Quests available that you spend most of your time distracted by those. Especially since many of them will be time sensitive or get performed by the NPC competitors if you choose to do something else.

Money and Other Resources your character has access to...

In normal game play, your character has access to money and other resources based on his backgrounds skill. So if you have Resources 5 you are a multi-millionaire and have access to $30,000 a month in cash.

And, that is exactly what your character has when he or she walks around Gary or Chicago and wants to simply do normal roleplay. However, Mr. Confetti has created a personal Money Bank for each competitor and you can only use what is in that for your Strategy upgrades.

Every player starts on Day one with $25,000 in their Money Bank.

Every point you want to upgrade a business, municipal asset, aspect of The Hotel, or a personality asset costs $5000 x the level you are upgrading to. So if you wanted to change the defense of your business from 2 to 3, that would be a cost of $15,000.

It also works the other way. You cannot use anything in your Cash Bank for non-strategy moves. For that, you need to utilize your personal money, which begins with your resources background.

So, you might get a prize worth $50,000 for accomplishing something in the contest of will. That money goes into your Cash Bank. If you have Resources 1, every month you get $500 in your personal bank account.

If you want to buy a car to get between Gary and Chicago, but you only have $1,000 in your personal bank account, well that's what you are limited to. It doesn't matter that you have $50k in your Cash Bank. You can't use any of it for the car.

Is that confusing or irritating in any way? Mr. Confetti is a Malkavian! His game. His rules. Some of them are going to drive you nutzo! That is on purpose. Your Cash Bank will be featured on the website. Make sure you keep your character's money straight on your character sheet.

Everybody Learns Everything That Everybody Else Learns!

Mr. Confetti's strange affinity for Dominate is legendary. As he as aged, these powers have become almost god-like. He can look into people's minds, make a copy of their memories, and store them in his own brain, or in the brains of others, thus sharing people's actual memories. He will do this not only with many of his own adventures in the city, but also with every competitor's memories.

Thus, if you learn about something, everybody learns it! This is also true of the NPC competitors, which is why their exploits are featured in the IC area. When you read those adventures, your character actually learns the information. Thus it is nearly impossible for the competitors to keep secrets from one another.

This is a part of the Contest of Will.

It is a necessary component of a strategy roleplaying game such as this one. If everyone were to keep their adventures a secret, first off, that would be very unfair for all of the players who can't make it to a particular gaming session. By sharing the memories, one group of players can show up for a session to start an adventure. Another group entirely can do the next phase of that adventure. While only the players who actually engage in the adventure will get XP, everyone gets to share the information. Thus, in the characters section new information will sprout up all the time that actually only one player or NPC learned. But everyone knows all about it.

New adventures will sprout up in the Possible Adventures section based on information that is learned by the players, by NPC competitors, and by Mr. Confetti himself. This is the easiest way to maintain all of the vast amounts of information that will be coming down the pike.

This is a living world, and so the world will move constantly. It will make the game much more streamlined and easier for everyone, trust me, and so this is how it works: If you learn something in the game -- everyone learns it. It is who can act on the information first that will thrive.

I will deal with one item per player per "turn" even if you send 2 or 3 in a single e-mail.

This needs a lot of clarification. Nothing that I have to say here has to do with the live roleplaying sessions. This is additional clarification on the way I am going to process the email play, which every player will be involved in heavily, hopefully, every week.

So, you have 6 emails per week. 3 of them are Strategy and 3 of them are Roleplay. Your character can realistically only do one thing at a time, though as you gain allies, retainers, and military force you can send minions to do your bidding, which will be a significant advantage and may allow you multiple actions per turn.

All of the PC competitors as well as the NPC competitors get to act once during a turn. I will handle e-mails in the order that I receive them. The NPC competitors will also get to act once and try and complete one of their goals for the turn. Realistically, to keep the flow going and for my own sanity, I will process these in the exact order I receive them, privately, in Microsoft Word. But, in the game environment, you will do the first thing you emailed me your character is doing. And during that same turn, simultaneously, the other characters act as well. This ALSO gives me the opportunity to allow all of the other NPC's in the game to act simultaneously, as they all have their own strategies that have nothing at all to do with the Contest of Will but instead some of them are making moves to become Prince of Chicago, others are part of factions like the Anarch Movement and the Sabbat, and still others simply have personal goals that they attempt to achieve that perhaps will open up a new quest.

Naturally if you don't get some of your e-mails in early in the week then your character will do nothing for the current turn. This might simply mean that your character was feeding or training that night. Kindred take time off to read a book too.

I hope this is clear. Let me clarify even further.

It is Sunday. I get three emails from players. Two of those emails have 1 item. One player knows he's going to have a busy week and has all of his ideas organized, and gives me 4 items of his 6 for the week in the one email.

That is 6 items for me to process. I privately process all 6 of them, and also I process the current move for each of the NPC competitors, and some things that NPCs in the game are doing. Then I go back to my real life.

The next day, Monday, I get five emails from players, with a total of 16 items to process. Privately, I process all of them.

Now, on the site, I post the first item from each of the players who submitted Sunday and Monday, as well as the NPC competitor actions. I put appropriate NPC actions that the players would learn about in the proper sections of the website and make announcements to look in those sections on the front page.

Icly, this all happens in a single evening, and you will see that because the IC, in-game date of those actions will be clearly posted.

Now, the next day is Tuesday. I get four more emails with 6 more things to process, many from people who already have submitted items that haven't happened yet. That's okay. I process everything privately again.

Now it is turn 2. I move the IC clock forward one day, and I post all of the second items from all of the players, as well as new items from the NPC competitors and some more stuff that NPC's do.

And so on and so forth. I will likely always be behind what you email every week, and perhaps by a lot. But, that's okay. Time will move slower in the game environment then it does in real life. That's how a strategy game works.

I expect this to be a lot of fun, but I am not going to get overly stressed when a ton of emails comes in and I have to process them. It's a game, and I am going to treat it like that. I will only have so much time allocated each given day to process the emails. I expect you as players of a game to be relaxed about it, and just wait for the events to unfold on the site.