Wraith House Rules

This is a current (but subject to modification) list of house rules. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your local Funeral Director or their Production Team.

Character Creation House rules

Banned Splats

  • The Following Splats are not available in cgen at the present time:
      •  Ferryman – By virtue of their duties, a Ferryman would never stay in LA longer than necessary to perform his duty before leaving to the Underworld. As such, Ferrymen as PCs makes little sense on Liberation MUSH.
      • Spectres – Oblivion’s personal harem are too numerous to count. As the playerbase increases, Spectre concepts in cgen might be allowed. For now, however, there are too few PCs to support this antagonist group.

Restricted Splats

The following splats are restricted, requiring demonstration of facility with and knowledge of the splat, and pre-clearance with STaff:

    • Jade Remnant/Dark Kingdom of Jade Characters
    • Non-Stygian Wraiths/Arcanos
    • Risen

Stats, Backgrounds and Powers and Stuff

  • Dark Arcanoi are allowed at Character Creation for Doomslayers but will be given more scrutiny to non-Doomslayers. Justification must be given as to how this knowledge was obtained.
  • Characters may be of multiple factions. Multi-faction allegiance must be reflected in your backstory as to how you manage to keep your nose clean.
  • Guildwraiths may only purchase Initiate levels of Arcanoi of their specific Guild at cgen. Initiate levels of Arcanos are capped at your character’s Status rating at cgen.
  • Pact of Doom
    • Pact of Doom may be bought as a standard Shadow power with any of the listed Arcanos per Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary as available to be taught. Pact of Doom will always cost 1 Permanent Angst per level acquired in this way. Arcanos learned through Pact of Doom do not cost Experience points.
  • Wraith 2nd Edition Merits, Flaws and Powers: Stuff found in wraith 2nd edition splatbooks (Doomslayers: Into the Labyrinth, the Hierarchy, Guildbooks), are subject to Director Approval. Merits and Flaws will be added to the Merits and Flaws approved list as they come up in Approvals. This is to offer the opportunity for greater variety among Factions.

The Shadow House Rules

The Shadow, your greatest adversary, requires a level of maturity from players and staff than other games often demand. With this in mind the following house-rules are followed to ensure the theme of the Shadow is preserved while preserving your rights as a player.

  • Liberation MUSH follows the Deterministic Shadowguide model from Wraith 20th Anniversary at the present time meaning that most of the time, the player is both Psyche and Shadow. Players are obligated to be mindful of their Shadow, it’s goals and ambitions in RP and react accordingly. Shadowdice can only be offered by a Director or Shadowguide Producer unless otherwise able (through Coax). Deterministic Shadowguiding requires the following from you the player:
    1. Dark Passions Must Always Be Rolled: If you are in a scene where your Shadow stands a chance to gain Angst due to Dark Passions, you are obligated to roll your Dark Passion at it’s listed difficulty for what it is. If in doubt a roll is necessary, you must yield in favor of the Shadow – not your PC. The Shadow is your greatest enemy because it is you, and it seeks your downfall. Indulge your inner nihilism when it rears it’s head.
    2. The Shadow will always choose to Catharsis: When a Wraith’s temporary Angst exceeds your permanent willpower, the Shadow has an opportunity to take control. You are obligated to represent this dark possession if your temporary Angst ever goes above your willpower. Here is what you do:
      1. Burn a temporary Angst
      2. Roll the Shadow’s new temp Angst vs 6, and your Willpower vs 6. You may choose to roll an additional number of dice up to your Eidolon rating on your willpower roll. Whoever wins takes your body. Should you Catharsis, the scene you are in AND the next scene are done through your Shadow rather than the Psyche.
      3. The Shadow will always block the Psyche’s awareness. What dots of Eidolon you chose not to use for your Catharsis roll, you may use to make an Eidolon roll at diff 7. A single success is needed for your PC to be aware of the Shadow’s actions. If you fail, the Psyche does not know what it did.
      4. The Shadow will wait for the next time it gains Angst before it tries to Catharsis again. The Shadow will not Catharsis ad infinitum until it is below your Willpower. It will wait until the next time it gains Angst before doing so again.
    3. You play your Shadow outside of Director-narrated scenes and Shadowguided scenes during Catharsis: Remember, the Shadow has plans for you. You decide how this traumatic event will unfold. You must keep in mind to act in the Shadow’s best interests, even if it is detrimental to your character. This is a good time to help narrate your own PC’s trauma and suffering by being the hand that feeds it to you. If all else fails, the Shadow will hunt for Angst (and fulfill Dark Passions).
    4. Your Shadow is You, not a multiple personality: It should be difficult for PCs to know the difference between the Shadow and the Psyche. Your actions are often the only clue. The Shadow has no different voice than you, doesn’t have a different posture. Only what it does is the sole clue. It is thematic to take a dark bent to your personality as the Shadow, it is not thematic to play a completely different persona.
  • Directors and Shadowguide-approved Producers may join your scene as a Shadowguide at any time. Staff will always ask if you are willing to be Shadowguided before entering a scene. Refusing to be shadowguided may net you 1 temporary Angst, at Staff discretion (this is more for those who routinely refuse to be shadowguided).

XP HOUSERULES

  • Your first 15 dots of powers (starting 5 Arcanos + 10 additional dots) may be learned without justification. Powers beyond the 10th dot require a teacher. This is meant to justify your wraith’s natural aptitude with powers and where her limits are before she needs help.
    • The Status and Initiate Arcanos Houserule bypasses this restriction. You may always learn Initiate Arcanos, without justification, up to your Status level. This is explained that as a Guild member of standing you have access to the secrets of the Arcanos of your Guild.
    • Orpheus agents do not have access to Initiate Arcanoi. Therefore, they require instruction by a Guild Member (PC or NPC) of sufficient level.
  • Your local Funeral Director or Shadowguide Producers are responsible for leveling your Shadow. Their growth will occur quarterly and will be decided based on observed gameplay and character actions and personality. This is a cooperative rule, we invite you to discuss with us your thoughts and ideas on the progression of your Shadow.

ARCANOS HOUSERULES

  • Armory (Moliate 3)
    • Successes on the Intelligence+Moliate roll adds 1 die per success to the damage pool of the moliated weapon. A Masquer who rolls 3 suxx will have a Str+3 moliated weapon to use. The Masquer is unable to use a hand/arm while Armory is in use, pending ST discretion and the weapon created.

NON-MECHANICS HOUSERULES

  • The No Backstepping Rule: You tell your local Funeral Director you want to learn an Initiate Level Arcanos, and go to seek out a relevant teacher. You decide, at the end of the story, that you don’t want that Initiate level Arcanos, and instead want the Common power instead. This breaks the Backstepping rule, as it can easily be read as manipulative and duplicitous. If over the course of the story you are finding yourself questioning your choice, be forward about it. Your local Funeral Director will consider IC consequences and alternatives. Be up front. This is a collaborative experience to tell your story.
  • The Honesty Rule: Your local Funeral Director expects you, given the free reign you have over many aspects that should be outside your control, to be responsible and forthright in how you manage you character – particularly with your shadow. But you decide you don’t WANT to Catharsis, so you choose not to roll for it when you should. Someone finds out and it circles back to your local Funeral Director that you broke the Honesty Rule. Breaking the honesty rule awards you with lots of Angst and makes your local Funeral Director very sad. So don’t do it.

Wraith