VtES Rules Question Self-Help

When it comes down to rules question in VtES, there is sometimes confusion about how to tackle rules questions effectively. Some start right away the 100.000th question about "Rötschreck" on "rec.trading-cards.jyhad", while others are very reluctant about asking questions on the internet at all. I'd like to give some advice about how to approach VtES rules questions in general. If you follow the different steps below you will find the answer to a specific rule or card more quickly, often without waiting for other players or White Wolf to reply.
This is by no means a definitive sequence, but instead these steps should show where information regarding specific rules or rulings can be found.

But first some basic definitions regarding the VtES rule systematic:

• Rules -- these are the core rules as given in the printed rulebook and its online version.
  
• Errata -- this is a significant change of a card text, which overwrites the current text of a particular card. The list of cards on the White Wolf website always shows the most recent card text including any errata to card.
  
• Rulings -- are clarifications or answers to specific card related questions by a White Wolf official, currently (and for quite some time) represented by L. Scott Johnson (LSJ). The rulings are either stored on the White Wolf website or in the Usenet newsgroup "rec.trading-cards.jyhad".
  

1. Cardtext / Errata
Surprisingly often the answer to a rules question is simply "card text". Players often do not read the card text closely enough, or rely on an old card text. The later is especially a problem of cards from earlier expansion notably before the "Camarilla Edition", where a number of old cards received an errata. Examples for these cards are "Anarch Revolt", "Antediluvian Awakening" or "Monocle of Clarity".
To get the latest card you can either rely on your deck builder tool (FELDB, ARDB, ..) or (better) the official card list from the White Wolf website:

• Card List
  
• Errata & Rulings
  

2. Rules
The second place you should consult for an answer are the rules. Often players, including myself, think what a particular rules covers, but actually they don't know it 100%. For example, I wasn't aware of particular section (1.6.3) which states that Allies can pay blood for playing discipline cards, if the card text on the ally says he "can play cards as a vampire".

• Complete Rulebook
  
• Rules Outline

3. Rulings
In addition to the rules a number of rulings for specific cards have been made in the past. A lot of the rulings are stored on the White Wolf website (again); also on Lasombra's website has a FAQ where a lot of commonly asked questions are answeered.

• Errata & Rulings
  
• Lasombra's VtES FAQ

4. Newsgroup / Forum
The next step is searching the Usenet newsgroup "rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad". Here rules questions are answered by L. Scott Johnson, the current VtES designer and net representative. Searching the newsgroup can be done either by using a /email program like "Alpine" or "Mozilla Thunderbird", or by searching the newsgroup archive at "Google".

• rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad.

Other tools that simplify the search are hosted on different websites:

• Storage Annex
  
• Lasombra's website

If you can't find anything in the above mentioned sources, it is time to post a rules question either in your local VtES Forum or in the Usenet Newsgroup "rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad". You can post a question with the same kind of clients that you use to search the Newsgroup (see those listed above). A list of european VtES Forums you can find on the sidebar of this blog.

5. IRC Channel #vtes
For a quick question, or an urgent one, you can also use the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Channel "#vtes". Usually about a dozen VtES players are online, which can answer rules questions quickly and competent. For details how to access/join "#vtes" read this posting. There is web-based interface for accessing "#vtes", but you can also use client programs like client like mIRC, IceChat, Miranda IM or Trillian.