How do you tie a character into the deep lore of your game world? A lot of games have very deep lore. Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Shadowrun, 7th Sea, and Runequest are all famous examples of worlds with lore so deep it practically has encyclopedias of it. There are more than a few examples. World of Darkness has quite a lot, as well. It has some contradictory lore and some best forgotten. I am looking at you Romani blood purity stats and most of Kindred of the East, but it still has a great deal even without those. It is too much to absorb easily.
One of the things I particularly liked in the 5th edition of Vampire is the use of loresheets to give players a chance to connect to that lore without having them know any of it before they start. You can be tied to movers and shakers in vampire politics, or maybe be part of the Week of Nightmares, but you don’t have to read all the fan wiki entries to get the benefit.
Side Note: Yes, I know Legends of the Wulin did it first, though pretty differently from the one in V5, and are really not part of this conversation.
The Structure
The structure of a loresheet in V5 is a brief blurb about the item of lore it is referencing. For instance, The Descendant of Helena loresheet tells you briefly about who she is, and why she is so important. Then it gives you 5 levels of the Loresheet that give you a mechanical benefit to your character. The lore the level, the less powerful the benefit, but, importantly, you don’t have to buy all the levels in order. You can just take the level 5 without getting any of the lower steps, first. The individual steps will have some portionf the lore about this subject, and the mechanical benefit will relate to that.
Example:
••• Blood is Blood: (Brujah only) You are descended from, or possibly are the child of the 10th gen Brujah, De la Vega himself and he takes care of his own. De la Vega is a 3 dot Malwa to you, and you have 1 dot of Status in Chattanooga (In Anarch, Camarilla, and Gangrel domains.) The downside is that you also earn all his enemies and higher expectations of your behavior.
That is from one of my own Loresheets, but it demonstrates the structure of the ones that have been published. This one is about a Brujah Baron in the Chattanooga in the area. The mechanical benefit “Malwa” means he is a kind of mentor who will regularly help you. This is useful stuff and it says something about this De la Vega. He watches over his own bloodline.
The Categories.
It is never explicitly laid out, but there are categories of Loresheets. One is the broad type loresheets that fit any campaign. These are ones like the Carna, Cannite Heresy, and Bahari sheets which can fit into any campaign. They are related to thinks that exist throughout the World of Darkness.
The other type are what I call the local Loresheets. They are structured the same. Some 5 steps, the same bits of lore to invest your character, but they are specific to the location of a specific city. For instance, The Kevin Jackson or Annabelle Loresheets are only useful in relation to the city of Chicago. After all, they are from the Chicago by Night book and do a good job of connecting your character to these very important individuals in the city. You could take them if your campaign was set in Los Angeles, but what would be the point? The benefits and lore it connects to are unlikely to come up.
The Local Loresheet is a good way to set up your own local vampire chronicle before people make characters. It gives them some hooks to dig into and allows them to feel connected to what has gone on before the chronicle starts. Writing them is not difficult. The structure is established already, a couple of paragraphs about the subject, and five steps of benefits with a sentence or two each furthering the lore of the thing they are connected to. With the mechanical benefits, long as you are staying close to the level of things you see from other Loresheets at the same levels, then you are likely doing okay.
An example
I have been planning a Chattanooga by Night chronicle for some time. I decided to write a few loresheets in case people wanted to make their characters more tied to the city. This is one of them.
The Court of Chattanooga
The city of Chattanooga has had a kindred presence for more than 170 years. From the small outpost of Ross’s Landing to The Civil War, and up through the modern nights, kindred have existed in the shadows of the river city. The Court of Chattanooga has a surprisingly turbulent history, with many people claiming praxis. Near the turn of the millennium, the city was broken up into three domains, Camarilla, Anarch, and Gangrel.
For the last quarter century, the woman who has ruled as prince of the camarilla domain of Chattanooga is Heather Primrose and with the help of her court has managed to keep the peace with these disparate domains. Whether or not that continues is a question yet to be answered.
• The Battle of Chattanooga: The Civil War battles held in Chattanooga were vitally important to the union army. It was also a time of chaos, chaos which the Sabbat took advantage of. You or your sire was there and know secrets of the Sabbat offensive from that time. Once per story, you may ask the Storyteller for a bit of information on the Sabbat and what they were doing in the city at that time.
• • Lookout Mountain: Lookout Mountain is one of two mountains that help frame the city. It is also the site of not only a Garou caern and a Changeling freehold. Your involvement there helped you learn a thing or two. You may get a free specialty for the Occult skill in either Garou or Changelings. Additionally, when speaking on those matters, you are considered to have one dot extra of status among the kindred of Chattanooga.
• • • The Choo Choo: The Chattanooga Choo Choo is an iconic train station made famous by a song of the same name. It has been in Nosferatu hands for as long as it has existed. It is no longer a passenger terminal, but it is the site of very secure havens. The Nosferatu Primogen, Fel, takes great pride in making sure that its havens are inviolate and safe. You have a 3 dot haven defined as a train car kept at the Chattanooga Terminal lot. The Haven has the Watchmen, Location, and 2 dots of the warding merit. The private train cars may be a bit small, but living there is considered safe and prestigious.
• • • • The River City: You, your Sire or Malwa has done a great favor to the city to the city. As a result, you have received a domain in the city proper. You receive 5 dots to describe its elements for free(ie Chasse, Portillion, and Lein). Only you may hunt there and the 2nd Tradition applies. It may only be a few blocks, but it is your few blocks.
• • • • • The Rose’s Favor: The Camarilla domain of Chattanooga is very much in Toreador hands. Heather Primrose is a suave and ruthless politician, but she does have her pleasures. For whatever reason, she is pleased with you. She is considered a 3 dot Malwa to you, and you have an extra dot of status in the city. You may also ask to use her herd, though doing so too often will sour her on you. The downside of her favor is she does want you available when she calls and will be quite cross if you are not.
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