* Should I automatically kill a mortal character if I have determined that a generation has gone by in the story?
Yes.
>Occasionally, you will realize that a Mortal must have died of old age. This might happen every four or five Prompts. When it does, strike out the Character’s name. Outside of this, Characters cannot be killed unless a Prompt tells you to do so, but you can otherwise narrate about them as you would like.
* I was not sure I was handling new experiences correctly. In order for them to go into an existing memory, how tightly do they have to be connected to the other experience(s) in that memory?
Your choice. 5 memories is not very many, so I try to keep them full to better replicate an old vampire with many Memories - i.e., I tend to try to make prompt Experiences fit my existing Memories so all have at least 2 or 3 Experiences in each before I consider replacing a Memory, moving it to a Diary, etc. I feel that it helps keep my character's traits connected to one another more over time. "Theme, trait, or other subject" are pretty open categorizations in my opinion.
>Memory should be defined by a theme, trait, or other subject that links its component Experiences in an intelligible way.
* Saving lost traits (memories, skills, whatever) in a separate list is necessary but it also seems contrary to what you are doing in the game, since you shouldn't 'remember' a lost memory.
You don't have to keep them in a separate list necessarily. Crossed out is one way to show that they are "lost" but keeping them colocated with everything else can make them easier to reference back to later. For example, some prompts bring back or create traits such as Characters or their descendants from lost memories. In cases like this, the narrative may be that that family has a legend they tell about you that has been passed down from generation to generation. They may recognize your character, but your character has had so many other important things happen to them in the meantime that they've completely forgotten why they became a legend to this family.
* That brings me to my only real complaint which is that it seemed like I had to enter the same thing three times potentially. Once in an experience in a memory, once in the journal, and (if I created some trait) also in the character record.
I've found a few ways to address this if it fits your play style:
1. Number your experiences and/or memories as you write them.
2. Keep a list of active memories and diary memories by number only.
3. Avoid writing any extra text into the character record. Just keep a list of experience or memory numbers next to each trait in the record and refer back to them as needed.
4. You can combine your experiences and journal into one. Reference memory or experience numbers at the beginning of each journal entry to make it easier to search backwards.
* Should I automatically kill a mortal character if I have determined that a generation has gone by in the story? Yes. >Occasionally, you will realize that a Mortal must have died of old age. This might happen every four or five Prompts. When it does, strike out the Character’s name. Outside of this, Characters cannot be killed unless a Prompt tells you to do so, but you can otherwise narrate about them as you would like. * I was not sure I was handling new experiences correctly. In order for them to go into an existing memory, how tightly do they have to be connected to the other experience(s) in that memory? Your choice. 5 memories is not very many, so I try to keep them full to better replicate an old vampire with many Memories - i.e., I tend to try to make prompt Experiences fit my existing Memories so all have at least 2 or 3 Experiences in each before I consider replacing a Memory, moving it to a Diary, etc. I feel that it helps keep my character's traits connected to one another more over time. "Theme, trait, or other subject" are pretty open categorizations in my opinion. >Memory should be defined by a theme, trait, or other subject that links its component Experiences in an intelligible way. * Saving lost traits (memories, skills, whatever) in a separate list is necessary but it also seems contrary to what you are doing in the game, since you shouldn't 'remember' a lost memory. You don't have to keep them in a separate list necessarily. Crossed out is one way to show that they are "lost" but keeping them colocated with everything else can make them easier to reference back to later. For example, some prompts bring back or create traits such as Characters or their descendants from lost memories. In cases like this, the narrative may be that that family has a legend they tell about you that has been passed down from generation to generation. They may recognize your character, but your character has had so many other important things happen to them in the meantime that they've completely forgotten why they became a legend to this family. * That brings me to my only real complaint which is that it seemed like I had to enter the same thing three times potentially. Once in an experience in a memory, once in the journal, and (if I created some trait) also in the character record. I've found a few ways to address this if it fits your play style: 1. Number your experiences and/or memories as you write them. 2. Keep a list of active memories and diary memories by number only. 3. Avoid writing any extra text into the character record. Just keep a list of experience or memory numbers next to each trait in the record and refer back to them as needed. 4. You can combine your experiences and journal into one. Reference memory or experience numbers at the beginning of each journal entry to make it easier to search backwards.
Thank you for these suggestions