Storytelling 1: Starting Up a Game by Syco Before you read this I suggest reading Wassail's Guide to good storytelling. Also Kiramin made a helpful storytelling guide but it will not be as comprehensive as this one. Hello, my name is Syco and I'm writing this guide to help beginners learn to tell stories using Vampire's tools. I will be explaining how to start a game in Vampire and in this tutorial we will create a story. I will mainly be training you in the tools and how to use them. Finally I will end it by giving you an easy story to run through. So load up Vampire, click on Multiplayer and let's begin... Create Game Options First off, enter Won.net by clicking on internet and signing in. Join a room, or create your own room it's really your preference. Select "Create Game" and you will be taken to a new screen. Now there are several options to choose from displayed on your screen. I'm going to explain what each of the options it gives you does. First, Cooperative play. Click this button off if you want your fellow Vampires to fight against each other. For most stories I suggest Cooperative play because it's a lot more fun to take a party out. In this specific storyline we will need cooperative play. Second, "Track Humanity" this button is (I believe) a vital part of the Vampire game. This button is what turns on the whole "become a monster by killing innocents issue". If you turn this off then your vampires will not go berserk if they kill too many humans. IN a well developed "let's not kill all the humans" story, this is a key part. So for this specific set of tutorials we leave it on. The ST Moderation button allows the game's host to jump in on the Storytelling whenever he or she wants to. Leave it on if you intend on becoming the storyteller in this specific game. If it's off, another player can assume the role of a Storyteller. The Automatic Storyteller button will enable some built in scripts to take over the role of Storytelling and if you want to take full control of the story (which we do) turn it off. Password is pretty self explanatory. If you have specific people in mind in which you want them and only them to enter the game put in a password Chronicles In Vampire there are 3 different types of built in games, chronicles, empty levels (as I call them), and salons. Here they are explained in simple terms Chronicles are storyteller-less adventures that gives you and your adventurers a quest and the host can play along with the adventure if he likes. You are also able to alter the events of the story. In my personal opinion, don't alter the chronicles because they're set in stone and it's boring not telling your own tale. The chronicles built in the game are "To Curse The Darkness" and "Leaves of Three" Salons are "hang out" areas to chat it up and trade with other Vampire characters. It's rather boring being in a Salon but its' a great way to prepare your adventurers before you take them out. However, if you do this, people have to wait for you to setup up the game. Real great storytellers set up a Salon time then tell them to come back in an hour to Won.net to start the real game. The Salons are clearly labeled "Dark Ages Inn", "Rave Club", "Prince's Mansion". Finally there are the 4 main cities that you see in the real game. "Prague By Night", "London by Night" ,"Vienna by Night" and, "New York by Night". Most storytellers use these as a background for their storytelling. For this specific tutorial we will use "Prague By Night". So select "Prague By Night" and click on "Create Game". You will be taken to your game chat room and from there click start. We now head into the game itself. Onto the Object and Location Buttons