Chapter 2 Outcome & Changes

[Mooncalf]

The Violations System
Replacing the bounty system is the violations system.

This system is managed, financed, and populated by the players of the game, and not by any NPCs. There are no longer any automatic bounty increases, and being seen by humans alone isn't enough to get you on this list. Simply put, another vampire will have to see you, or uncover evidence of you breaking vampire laws.

This can be done by simply being in the same square as a vampire when they fail to feed (among many other things), or you can hack to find evidence (more about that later). Alternatively, you can use "spy cams" to catch vampires in the act of breaking secrecy laws (more about that later, too).

Vampires can go up on the violations list if they are seen feeding by humans, seen fighting one another by humans, seen using supernatural powers by humans, seen killing cops, or engage in necuratism (cannot be uncovered via hacking). If any of these things happen, and you find yourself as the witness, you will be given a choice to report the perpetrator's careless actions by clicking a link. Doing so will post the perpetrator on the violations list.

The violations page will also show the offense committed, the date it happened, the total amount of hit contracts currently out on the person (default is none, as this has to be financed manually), and a tally of the recent number of times the person has violated vampiric secrecy laws.

Violation reports are only removed once the person is killed, or crippled, or after 3 months (yes that is a long time, but it's not up to Crow anymore, so he or she is basically saying, fine, you decide when a violation has expired). It is entirely up to each group as to how many violations is considered too many violations, and while killing somebody for 1 single incident might seem harsh, it really depends on the circumstances, the hunting group, and the diplomacy between the violator and the other concerned vampires of the city. Essentially: it's up to you to work out amongst yourselves now.


Hacking Changes
Now, when you're on an "evidence hack", and you come across an evidence file (evidence of vampire activity), you can either:
A) Delete as normal, which will lower the city alert.
or
B) Download the file, which will no longer increase the city alert.

If you choose B, then assuming the evidence names a vampire name, you get these options:
1) Delete all trace of this evidence. This will lower the city alert, and remove all trace of the named person's violation, unless the violation was witnessed by a vampire, or the violation has already been reported to crownet. If the latter is true, it'll just lower the city alert, and make it less likely for the named person to be attacked by hunters or similar.
2) Upload the evidence to Crownet (vampire only option). This will instantly add their violation to the list of violations found on Crownet.
3) Pass the evidence on to more humans. This will raise the city alert level.


Spy Cams
Spy cams are very simple, and can be crafted at any crafting bench. You place them in a building, and they have a small chance of sending you proof of a violation committed in the building (on the same floor). The chance is much less than getting evidence in person, by witnessing the violation in the act, but with spy cams you don't have to physically be there. They can be found and disarmed by anyone, but only show up when you step into the square housing them.


Hit List Changes
The hit list (different from the violations page) now has a drop down box. This is partly to stop it being used as a convenient insult box, but also because, for vampires, there are all 10 tenets of the old code listed as options under the "reason" field. This isn't to say that all 10 tenets are against vampiric law today; this is just to say that Crow is basically saying 'it's up to you which one of these you think is worth killing somebody for.' If you pick an old-code tenet as the reason, the hit will not show up for humans (as the hit list is city-wide). For tenet hits, you can assume (from a roleplay perspective) that they are posted only on Crownet.

Another reason I felt adding these to the drop-down box was needed is because it wasn't possible to add, for example, "disobeying your sire" to the violations page, because evidence of this can only be gained through roleplay. So, while the violations list comes with assumed IC evidence, the hit-list does not. But, you can still put a hit out on somebody for siring without permission, if you feel like it, and if that makes sense for your character. But to be clear: doing so will not make the target appear on the violations list.


Overall, it WILL be harder for bounty hunters who wish to enforce the masquerade. But, by no means impossible, especially considering they can now pick and choose what they kill / cripple people for. The changes reflect the chapter outcome, and the only real decision making process that went into them was 'how would the chapter's resolution REALISTICALLY change the way vampires do business, protect themselves, and maintain secrecy?' Overall, I feel like it will be a more entertaining system, with lots more options available for people.

Just a small note to finish: by the end of the week, crownet boards will no longer be visible for humans with less than 11 hacking.

[Keara Aithne]

Important Notice:

There was a bug with the cops being killed in B&E being witnessed by people outside the building. This has now been fixed but to set things right, all cop killing violations reported today have been removed along with any hits placed on them.