This is where I try to answer some of the more common questions regarding what this stuff is all about :) I apologise profusely if any of it seems obvious or patronising, but I am trying to write for a wide audience here, some of whom may not know what random webpage they have just found! :D
What's this all about, then?
This website is for a game set in the (new) World of Darkness. It is a live roleplaying game (LRP) played using White Wolf rules, and run by White Wolf's fan club, the Camarilla. This site is roughly aimed at the UK branch of that club although if anyone finds its resources useful then that's cool too. Just to reiterate, it's not real, not a dodgy cult, or terrorist group or anything, just a game :)
So, it's a game. What do you play?
The majority of player characters in this game are vampires, although there are some mortal servants (ghouls) of vampires as well.
What's the world like for a vampire?
Vampiric society is dangerous and very highly political, keeping to the shadows away from the prying eyes of mortals or even other supernaturals. Unlike in the old World of Darkness, vampires do not really tend to involve themselves in the affairs of the mundane world. History happened because this mortal or that mortal decided to do something, rather then said mortal being a pawn of an ancient vampire. That being said, vampires have a range of things that define them as being 'powerful'. One is Blood Potency, the higher points you have in this the more powerful the vampire, it is increased mostly by staying awake and active, or by eating more potent vampires (which is very frowned upon in their society). Time in torpor (a sort of vampiric hibernation) decreases your Blood Potency. The other thing that marks out powerful vampires, which is probably more important, is their status. There are three sorts of status, clan, city and covenant. The more you have the more well known and respected you are. Vampires tend to keep to their own cities or domains, and are reluctant to travel unless they really have to. Meeting new vampires is always a risky business, and being outside your sphere of influence when you don't have your allies with you makes you a lot more vulnerable. Cities are ruled by Princes supported by various court officers depending on the Prince and the traditions and needs of that particular area.
Vampire society in Requiem is split into various groups, the two main ones being clans and covenants. Clans are the equivalent of bloodlines or families of vampires, who inherit their clan from their sire (the one that makes them a vampire). Covenants are more like factions, assuming they are free to choose (i.e. their sire has not forced them into anything), a vampire may elect to join any covenant. The covenant is the people they associate with; their friends, the people they trust more than others, ones they share political, religious or philosophical beliefs with.
ok... who are the Circle of the Crone?
The Circle of the Crone are among the more mystical of the covenants. Many Crones (and they are not all female) are of a mystical or occult bent, but the covenant encompasses a wide range of practices, traditions and beliefs from all over the world and throughout history, there are about as many different beliefs as there are vampires in the covenant! Believing that vampires are essentially part of the natural world, they encourage learning and the rigourous testing of one's abilities to better themselves. They are happy with their vampiric nature, but are wary of becoming stagnant and unchanging in their ways of thinking - growth and creativity is the way forward. Because of this they tend to be at odds with other covenants especially the Lancea Sanctum who believe that all vampires are damned. Another reason for more religious Kindred to dislike them is their practice of their rituals, some of which perhaps look a bit strange to outsiders. They have their own discipline, called Cruac, the secrets of this are kept hidden from far-too-interested members of the other covenants. The Crones are on the whole fairly secretive, they have had to be to avoid persecution throughout the years. The more modern and open-minded vampires see the Circle as a useful ally however.
A-ha! So your lot are like the Tremere/Lhiannan/Bahari/vampiric version of the Verbena/other supernatural group out of the old World of Darkness?
Nope! It's a new game, new system and rules. This different setting means none of those old groups survive like they were in the old World of Darkness, but due to them in most cases being based on real-world mythologies, history, spiritualities and ideas there are bound to be some similarities. If PCs base their group on the same ideals as one of the groups from the old World of Darkness, that does not necessarily make them anything like that group. It's better for Requiem players to be playing Requiem, not Masquerade anyway, it's a different style of play :) A few people may be trying to recreate those old groups in Requiem, and if they really must I guess they can, bearing in mind they keep to the flavour of the new game...
Making a Crone PC
Firstly, if you have been playing in the old World of Darkness you will have built up some perceptions of what a vampire game is like. My advice would be to throw those ideas out of your head and start afresh when making a new character for Requiem, look to the real world for inspiration or ideas, or even books, films and comics. there's a lot of stuff out there, and I have seen some superb concepts drawn from all sorts of unlikely places :)
When making a character, consider what it's going to add to the game. How are they going to interact with other characters? Like any roleplaying game, it's not a game where anyone wins, particularly. It's about story, yes your characters can have goals and plans for ultimate power but there's a whole load of interesting stuff that can happen along the way (and although the ultimate power thing isn't that likely to happen don't let that stop you from trying in character!). Try where you can to link backgrounds with other people's characters, it provides an instant inroad into the game, and some allies/antagonists to be getting along with as you get settled in.
Killing other people's PCs is not that encouraged, why kill them and end their story when you can harsh them politically, or embarrass them in front of that high-ranking member of their covenant they were trying desperately to impress? Yes they might come back to doom you later, but that's half the fun. *grin* It's a political game, rather than a combat-orientated one, and if your combat goes wrong, it goes very wrong, as it's difficult to get yourself out of torpor especially if you are low humanity or high Blood Potency :)
To see what the rules are for creating a character, go here, to the Master Storyteller's site. So far there's no UK specific rules so it's as it is on that page.
There's also a UK-specific mailing list here, on yahoogroups. There's a list for Belgium too if you are playing there or have background involving that country. The international list is here... More details on lists as i get them, I may make a separate page for them if there turns out to be loads :)
Have any more questions, or want to make comments? This page is under development, so mail me on this address :)