Crossover

From Dark City

This page will be in a state of flux while we fine-tune and better articulate our sitewide policy on and disposition towards Crossover. Please check with Staff if you ever have any questions.

Crossover Guidelines

We're generally in favor of preserving the secrets and mysteries and distance between splats. That means Superfriends is often considered a dirty word here at Dark City.

We want to keep the themes of each Sphere intact, which includes ensuring that characters from that Sphere get to interact with the plots written for their Spheres. In short: Werewolves solving werewolf plot getting werewolf rewards.

These guidelines should help illustrate the expectations for players as it pertains to crossover dispositions, crossover knowledge, and crossover interactions.

How Supernaturals Regard Others

Supernaturals, half-splats, and Mortal+ regard those outside their group with extreme suspicion.

  • There are many good reasons for this: security and safety, respectful distance, interpretation of traditions and laws, mistrust, and a host of other concerns that are practical and, in general, shared.
  • This does necessarily have to dictate how your character feels about Others, but it should be taken into consideration.
  • The obligations of Silence apply to splats that are not your own, not just Mortals.

What Supernaturals Know About Others

Only high-Occult characters can have knowledge that Others even exist, and that information will be loose, vague, general, and sometimes wrong.

  • You will not be able to purchase a Specialty on a splat outside your own at chargen without a very good reason for it, but you may be able to purchase these Specialties through the course of play if the plot brings a certain kind of Other into your story.
  • Mortals (including Mortal+) start the game knowing nothing about any other proper-noun supernaturals (Changelings, Werewolves, Sin-Eaters, Vampires), including ones not available for play in this game (Prometheans, Mummies, Mages). Full stop zero. What they know, they must learn IC.

How Supernaturals Interact with Others

In Plots

The vast majority of plots will be particular to a gameline, and will not be open to characters from other splats. Vampires will have Vampire plots, Changelings will have Changeling plots, Mortals will have Mortal plots, and so on.

  • There are occasional supernatural Crossover plots, during which all attendant vows of silence are still in play and will be enforced the same.

In Crossover Locations

There are many instances when you'll be in a public room with an Other whose disposition you're not ICly aware of, and sometimes with those whose disposition you are aware. It's good counsel to assume that there are always Mortal NPCs around, and that anything you discuss should be treated with a kind of coded language secrecy approach.

There are also some supernatural crossover locations on the Dark City grid, usually marked with a 🌃 icon.

  • Vanilla mortals are unable to notice these places, and are under no circumstances permitted to enter regardless of escort or knowledge.
  • Mortal+ are generally less likely to know about them given their usual lack of a larger splat-based society to share these kinds of clandestine pieces of information.
  • It is unwise at best to disclose the nature of one's Otherness to other patrons. Asking after the disposition of other guests is a quick way to be banned from these establishments -- or worse.
  • Frequenting these locations is inherently risky, and they are not considered nearly as safe as splat-specific locations.

Crossover with Consequences

Crossover is risky and characters who treat it as the perilous venture that it is and take due care and caution are still at risk, but they are at less risk than those who approach crossover recklessly. TLDR; play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If you're ever uncertain, please talk to your Storyteller!