Storytellers

BECOMING AN OFFICIAL STORYTELLER

To earn your Storyteller License, you must host at least 2 non-canon games. At least one of these games must:

• Be a mission (a longer form game with multiple players, traditionally 1-2 weekends)

• Use Nocturne Symphony's CofD mechanics and homebrew system

• Be "secretaried" independently, i.e. you must be able to track Health/Aether/Conditions/etc on your own

• Be summarized by a mock post-game report, that is submitted to Mochi via DMs

Additionally, you are highly encouraged to read all world and mechanics resources provided on this website. While we can't explicitly quiz you on these, they are important to running games in a standardized manner.

POST-GAME REPORTS

The Storyteller must provide a post-game report after the mission is completed in order for the Storyteller and players to earn rewards. This report consists of:

• Mission summary. This should provide enough context to explain what happened, but does not need to be a play-by-play detailing everything each character has done. Try to keep this under 1000 words.

• Backend report. This can be a spreadsheet or document that provides the following information for each player:

• Beats, with brief notes on how a given Beat was earned. Common Beat sources include:

  • • Participation (max 5)

    • Aspirations

    • Conditions (resolution OR Persistent Condition trigger)

    • Dramatic Failures

    • Lethal damage in right-most Health box (1/game)

    • Death/Special damage in right-most Health box (1/game)

    • Strong RP which may not get recognized with mechanics

      • • Cool action moments and clever ideas

        • Character moments, such as when someone's personality shines through

        • Strategy and collaboration

    • "Bribery", i.e. Beats awarded in exchange for the Storyteller leveraging a narrative moment

• Conditions, especially Persistent Conditions.

  • • You only need to note what Conditions a character has remaining after the game. Conditions resolved for Beats should generally marked in the Beats section instead.

    • As Storyteller, you can choose whether you auto-resolve a Condition for a Beat, or remove it without awarding a Beat. For example, you might decide to remove a throwaway joke Condition without awarding a Beat, but auto-resolve a Condition from a Breaking Point for a Beat.

• Aether used/gained, and whether the player started the game with less than max Aether

  • • This is the net Aether change, i.e. +3, -5

• Integrity changes

  • • This is the net Integrity change, i.e.: +1 or +2

    • Note that Integrity can only be increased during a game through burning Willpower

• Willpower Dot changes

  • • Players may burn Willpower Dots during a game. This does NOT refer to Willpower points. Include the canon date of the WP change, as WP dots have a 1 month cooldown to regain.

• Deaths, and the date of death

• The Storyteller does not need to report equipment gains/losses, but should remind players to update their character inventories with important items.

AWARDING BEATS

When awarding Beats, here's some tips to keep in mind:

• A player will generally always earn 5 participation Beats. You should only award fewer participation Beats if the player was significantly absent during the game without any given reasons, or otherwise broke table/group rules.

• Remember to avoid double dipping on Dramatic Failures, i.e. if you assign a Condition as a result of a DF, you should not award a Beat for resolving the DF Condition.

• "Bribery" Beats are interesting, though you should take care when using them. These Beats are awarded if you feel that something must happen for the narrative. For example, if a NPC casts a spell on a PC, you could offer the player a Beat in exchange for forgoing the roll.

• Be generous with RP Beats, especially for players who do not earn many Beats through mechanics (i.e. Dramatic Failures, Compromise/Magic Overflow, Conditions, etc). For example, a character that spends a Scene persuading a NPC may not have as many opportunities to roll as another character breaking into a room to investigate it. The persuasive character is still adding value to the game, even if it doesn't translate directly into DFs or ESs.

• If there is a significant gap between the high-end and low-end Beat earners, you are encouraged to add adjustment Beats to "bump up" the lower end. As in the point above, these gaps tend to arise from characters having imbalanced opportunities to earn mechanical Beats. For example, if the highest Beat total in a group is 25 and the lowest is 12, you could bump the lower player to 17 Beats or so - whatever feels right.

• Storytellers are welcome to try the group Beat system (i.e. all Beats earned go into a pool, which is evenly divided among all players at the end).

MISSION PROPOSALS

Storytellers are required to submit mission drafts for approval at least 1-2 months in advance. This gives time for review, corrections, and date claims. Mission drafts should be submitted as a Google Doc to Mochi via DMs.

You do not need to submit a detailed module. We're looking for a Wikipedia overview of the mission, not a Game FAQs walkthrough. On the other hand, a proposal should be detailed enough so that we understand what storyline you're trying to accomplish. The proposal should feel complete and not leave the reader with too many questions.

The proposal should also include any details that are expected to carry into future games, such as Factions, recurring NPCs, plot devices, Persistent Conditions, etc. If something is meant to have a lasting impact on the world and overall story of Nocturne Symphony, you should have it looked at!

You do not need to abide by mission proposals perfectly. However, changes related to a major point of review should be sent in for follow-up approval if possible. For example, adding an angel to a game would require a follow-up, but changing an approved angel's name would not.

RESTRICTIONS

When designing storylines, Storytellers should keep the following restrictions in mind:

• Demon-blooded are not canon

  • • The demon-blooded, aka children of demons, do not exist in Nocturne Symphony in any of their forms (Offspring, Latents, Fractals). Demons cannot reproduce, despite their otherwise fully human Covers.

• Nephilim are not canon

  • • These are essentially modified demon-blooded, redesigned for a specific D:tD alternate setting Giants in the Earth. On a similar note, take note when reading the D:tD books to make sure you're not drawing on setting-specific hacks.

• Exercise caution when using non-Symphonic splats

  • • Nocturne Symphony focuses 95% of its attention on the Demon: the Descent splat. NPCs belonging to other splats (i.e. vampires, werewolves, mages, etc) should either be completely avoided or used with extreme caution - D:tD power-levels do not interact nicely with other splats.

    • Core Chronicles of Darkness templates, such as the ephemeral (ghosts, spirits, and of course angels) and Horrors (the catch-all for 'weird monster/phenomena thing') are free to use. Generally these are designed for Mortal play, so these fit in relatively well to our pactholder-centric games.

• Restricted tools (Symphonic)

  • • A number of NPC types and other game tools are considered restricted. This means they require explicit approval to make canon, and are not guaranteed to get approval. These include:

      • • Angels. These are the least restricted of these items, as they just require thoughtful use and a completed proposal. Most will be approved as long as they're handled with narrative care.

        • Exiles and Slivers. These are essentially rarer angels, but with harder "vibes" to get right.

        • Rank 5 angels. Almost 100% off-limits.

        • Primum 9 demons/Resonance 9 pactholders. The gap between Primum 8 and Primum 9 is greater than one might expect. Primum 9 NPCs are strongly recommended to be restricted to lieutenant-type NPCs.

        • Primum 10 demons/Resonance 10 pactholders. Almost 100% off-limits. Primum 10 demons have a permanent Angelic Condition and are leagues above every other NPC type. If used at all, they must be handled with extreme care.

        • Agencies. A proper Agency has a lot of breadth and depth, and are entangled in the local politics of whatever city they've taken up residence. These groups require more scrutiny than Rings when creating them.

        • Stigmatic pactholders. Canonically, stigmatic pactholders are exceptionally rare due to most demons avoiding wish pacts with stigmatics.

        • Command & Control Infrastructure. Specific types of Infrastructure that are said to be central pieces of the God Machine, used to control other Infrastructure. These are places of legend, extremely rare, and are unlikely to be approved for use.

        • Restoration Facilities. Highly coveted pieces of Infrastructure, Storytellers should take extreme care when offering these. Such Facilities are often fought over by Unchained or heavily guarded by Angels, and they should be treated narrative respect. Player characters should never gain free access to a restoration Facility without the constant threat of having it stripped away.

• Restricted rewards/resources

  • • Storytellers should exercise caution when deciding what resources are available to players, whether they're mission rewards or even things "on loan".

      • • Spells. NPCs should not offer to teach spells to player characters that are not available on the public spells list. New spells are added by moderators. Storytellers can request permission to have a new spell added in via their game, but note that these will be handled with caution.

        • Gadgets. Though not explicitly disallowed, Storytellers should be careful about giving away gadgets that aren't B-sides, especially custom-made gadgets. Note that gadgets must be approved either through a mission proposal or via regular gadget creation.

        • Restoration Facilities. See above. In general, allowing players to access a restoration Facility is an inherent security risk. While not disallowed, Storytellers should talk through the in-world logistics.