Latest Update - Apr 5 2022 - Chatroom removed
The chatrooms are now removed. Library drift caused them to stop working, and a command to attempt to remedy that instead destroyed the source code for the chat server, which it turns out there was no backup of. Since the chat wasn't used much these days anyway, it's not worth recreating from scratch, and has been removed.
Nov 15 2021 - Mechanical boxes
There's some new boxes you might find around the town. This update sponsored by Anthony.
Oct 10 2021 - NPC Tracking
It's now recorded when you kill a vampire hunter, werewolf or paladin. Any kills made from today onwards will add to counts on your "my vampire" page, for the current month and for all time from today onwards.
The top ten most kills of each type for the current and previous month will be presented in the Battle Arena.
This update sponsored by Mahila-Daeva, Fen Reiss, smitsmit, Psycho Cliff and Julia.
Sep 16 2021 - Silver briefcases
There are now rare silver briefcases in the city, well hidden. Silver briefcases sponsored by Anthony.
July 10 2020 - Werewolves
There are now a few werewolves in the city. Of course they're just human unless it's a full moon. Werewolves sponsored by Anthony.
May 14 2020 - The Great Cookie Expiry
Oops! Apparently some time 15-20 years ago when coding cookies I thought meh, it's not worth trying to format a relative duration into this awkward date format, I'll just make all the cookies expire ages from now, let's say 15-20 years in the future. That day was today, and all the cookies expired all at once and wouldn't recreate because they were immediately expiring again, for about four hours. Sorry about that.
This will happen again in 2037, circumstances permitting. (Going past 2038 might still be incompatible with some computers right now!)
Apr 26 2020 - Lower blood limits for using items increased
Because of the effect of Suction 2 having made the 'stun' effect of being drained less effective, the lower blood limit for using items has been increased. This isn't expected to impact new vampires since getting to the point of expecting to use items takes longer than getting enough blood to use items.
Feb 26 2020 - Paladins
There's a new extra rare kind of NPC roaming the streets, Paladins, sponsored by Julia, Anthony and The Nightwatch.
Feb 3 2020 - New power
There is a new power, Thrift, sponsored by AdaMaS and Batrisha.
Jan 11 2020 - New power
There is a new power, Perception 2, sponsored by Ichi-Nightlove, Joy, smitsmit and Batrisha.
June 24 2018 - New power
There is a new power, Suction 2 (as of a few weeks ago).
Apr 15 2016 - Implosion
Due to a power issue at the server host a few days ago, a (relatively small) amount of database corruption occurred, mostly to accounts that were active at the time of the power failure, resulting in some vampires disappearing. This led to me discovering that my backups have also not been working for a while.
I've been manually restoring the missing accounts. If yours is still missing and you want it back, send the following information (or as much of it as you want restored) via the contact form in the FAQ:
If you're okay with the coin value of items in lieu of items, please just say that value rather than listing items, as that's about 20x easier for me to restore!
Apr 20 2015 - UV Grenades
There is a new item, UV Grenades, sponsored by Liski, Elizabeth and shadowsshade. These deal 100-150 damage to every vampire in an area (subject to the usual restrictions with respect to Neutrality, Battle Cloaks, having already attacked, etc.) but are ineffective when used on buildings.
Feb 21 2014 - Some fixes
There was a bug introduced by the new server's newer database software (or rather its slight incompatibility with the older database software) causing moving to not necessarily render a vampire vulnerable to attack. This bug is now fixed.
Feb 08 2014 - Server move
Okay, a week or two was optimistic it seems, but things are now ready for the changeover, once the DNS cache has cleared. In six hours from now (at midnight pacific time) the game will be down for approximately ten minutes while I copy the database to the new server, then the new version will be live. Hopefully the only change you'll notice will be the new chatrooms. Cosmetically it's nicer, copy and pasting will work better, and you can now be in more than one room at a time. And it doesn't use Java, so Sun can get stuffed with their constant updates. (Update2 - server changeover is complete.)
Jan 15 2014 - Chatrooms and Java
The latest Java update has made using the chatrooms difficult. I'm currently writing a new chat system to not use Java, for an upcoming migration to a new server (probably about a week or two, but I'm also moving house so finding the time is tricky), but in the meantime, if you find Java is being difficult and want to get into the chatrooms, here's their explanation of how to get it working. How can I configure the Exception Site List? (You'll be adding quiz.ravenblack.net to the list.)
Jan 03 2014 - Ghosting
The ghosting power is now symmetrical; you can elect to permanently disappear from selected vampires if you have it, and other vampires can elect to permanently disappear from you if you have it. When buying the power you can buy it onto someone else rather than yourself, if this better suits your situation. Using clones to attack a vampire that is intangible to you will be considered to be severe and deliberate cheating, likely to result in both the clone and your main vampire being jailed.
May 13 2013 - Contact
If you need to contact me about anything, please use the form in the FAQ, rather than emailing directly. Recently several emails have been caught in my spam filter, resulting in people feeling that I'm ignoring them, when actually I just haven't even seen their email. Also, please don't ask Devil Miyu for updates on what's happening with whatever you're asking - she won't know anything about it. If you're expecting a reply, don't forget to check your spam folder too! And if you know a spammer, please slap them right in the eyeball for contributing to making this announcement necessary.
Apr 01 2013 - Definitely no April Fools prank
There is definitely not going to be any sort of an April Fools prank today, and anything unusual you see is completely in your imagination.
Mar 04 2012 - Chat room access conditions changed
The condition for access to the moderator chat rooms is now that a vampire must have acquired a power, rather than blood, as the blood condition was too easily worked around in a short time for trolling. Vampires predating this change are exempt from the new rule.
Dec 22 2011 - Chat room rules changed
Chat room rules have been vastly simplified.
Sep 05 2011 - New item
There's a new ring (with a minor effect), in non-specialized shops only.
Apr 11 2011 - New items
There's a new potion, in potion shops only, a new weapon in non-specialized shops only, and a new scroll currently only available in the Aubade.
Jan 29 2011 - Battle Arena update
The Battle Arena now refunds the cost of a declined challenge, and displays a sponsorship message. Also some minor bugs with bribery and ending based on points have been fixed.
Jan 28 2011 - Battle Arena
The Battle Arena (at Zelkova and 52nd) is now a bit less experimental than it was at first. A few bugs on older IE browsers have been fixed, and betting now appears to work more sanely - now only the portion of your bet that is matched by a bet on the other side is actually gambled, the rest is refunded when the battle ends whether you win or lose. Accordingly, if you win, only the portion of your bet that was matched is awarded in winnings (minus the Arena's 5% cut). If there are multiple bets and insufficient winnings, winnings are split according to the sizes of the bets.
A brief rundown of Arena Battle rules - if a battler runs out of blood, they lose. A hit always results in at least the damage of the weapon, and may be up to 6 times that damage (a critical hit) based on the number of bars you have from hitting that location - this multiplier is what counts for points. Bribing the Vumpire more than your opponent does can give you an initial positional advantage (with respect to the bars). There are diminishing returns on this, the bribe required to get 5 bars would be very large indeed.
If you don't make a move within the per-move time limit of the battle, and your opponent is waiting, you will be forced to make a "nothing" move that always loses.
Have fun!
(PS. in case anyone is wondering, yes, the cheat-detection systems will notice people passing coins by betting and throwing matches, just the same as any other coin-passing method, so don't do it!)
September 30 2010 - A Holiday!
An event is playing out starting at the beginning of October and ending on Halloween. Click here to get the details from the Lost in Shadows community.
The graveyard has also been updated to allow placing flowers and candles on the graves.
March 18 2010 - Scrolls of Summoning
There's a new item, Scrolls of Summoning. They're like the reverse of a Scroll of Succour, allowing a sire to summon their childer. Unwillingly summoned childer can choose to sever the bond after being summoned, for 500 blood (or all their blood, if they have less than 500.)
March 05 2010 - Rule tightening
Due to recent events, I'm making a small rule adjustment that should be
irrelevant to most players; if you use an IP changer or any sort of anonymiser
to make it so it's difficult to link your vampires, and you act as a team with
another vampire that also does this, and someone complains of that action and
says they have reason to believe both vampires belong to the same player, you
will be treated as if you are the same player. You can avoid this by either
not using an IP changer, or not acting as a team with others who do, at your
discretion.
Note - this doesn't impact occasional normal changes to your IP, only
deliberate changes for the purpose of hiding the link between accounts you control.
January 24 2010 - Blocking
A feature has been added (for donated accounts only) whereby if you are being frustrated by messages from another vampire, you can block all their messages. This can be done here, or from a link on the My Vampire page. There is no indication to the sender that their message has been ignored. If you're being frustrated by attacks, this is no help with that, and Neutrality or a change of Battle Cloak should be considered.
All updates prior to 2010 no longer shown.