Storytelling Part 2: Basic Tools pt. 1 by Syco In this tutorial we're going to start learning some of the tools you will use in Vampire. If you followed our first chapter then you should be looking around Prague by Night. Such a lovely place isn't it? Well from the starting point walk around until you find the University. When you reach the University look for a button on the bottom left of the screen; it should say "Switch to Storyteller Mode" when you hover over it. Click on it. You will notice a new set of buttons await you. Setting up Taking your time to set up is one of the key ingredients to a good game. When I want to tell a good story I at least take 20-25 minutes to setup. It's a good idea to outline your story on a piece of paper with all the locations mapped out. Which brings us to our first button... Location Button Learning how to use this utility effectively and efficiently will create a more enjoyable experience for your players. The Location Button is located on the bottom right side of the screen and it looks like a house. If you'd like to save time, you can just push the "l" key on your keyboard. Click on the location button and you will notice an info screen pops up. You'll notice it has links to every single location in Prague. Find "The University" in the list. When you select the university look on the right side of the locations box. You will notice two buttons. The one on top, when you hover it, says "warp to location". Click on it. There should be some load time then *poof* welcome to the university. Please note: This only warps the storyteller to that location. We'll go into warping adventurers into areas later. Object Button Well here we are at the University and we're going to do something that most hard core Vampire online players wouldn't like you to do, take elements from the single player game. For the fact of simplicity however, we're going to place Ecaterina in the University, to do this we must understand a major aspect of storytelling. When you enter Storytelling Mode your character acts more as a marker then as a character. When placing objects however your character acts as the position for where that object will be located. So when you're ready, go click on the "Object Pane" button or hit "O". You should then see the object box open. Here is the Object Box Pane: Navigating the Object Box. The object box is THE core of storytelling, it's important for you to understand what each button means. First off, click on the second button from the top. This is the "Short/Long list" toggle button. Since we're not running a chronicle this is not important whatsoever. Now, go down the list until you see a button with a silouette of a human head (shadow for the really inept). Select it! You'll notice the list changes to a bunch of actors, that's because you just hit the "Show Only Actors" button. Move your character into the middle of the room and go down the "Actors" list till you find Ecaterina. When you have done this click on the arrow button at the top, this is the "Create Object" button. The "Create Object" button is the most important button in the game as it enters actors/objects/props into your world. Take note there are 3 sorts of Objects Show Only Objects: "The Treasure Chest Button" This button is the one which contains all the weapons, amulets, ammos and everything else that can be "used" by a player. Show Only Actors: "The Human Silouette Button" As explained above, this is where you will create all your characters including villains, neutral humans, and the undead. Show Only Props:"The Table Button" This is where you'll find everything from coffee tables to computer boxes. This is what I like to call the "make it pretty button" Here are your final results: Those two concepts are very important to learn how to tell a story well and create dynamic RPG environments. In our next tutorial we will continue, creating a villanous pit of monsters and begin to tell our first story. Also feel free to run amock with the knowledge you have just learned, start trying to tell people stories or make a salon and send out monsters to kill people. Back to Part 1 | Forward to Part 3