Mage: The Ascension

[Cynical Cat]

So we'll be doing Mage on Mondays when Cameron isn't running his game.

Basic campaign information is at the campaign site on Obsidian Portal and all characters are to be posted there.

The following rules are iron clad

All characters are inexperienced Tradition mages, fresh out of his or her apprenticeship and having been recruited for an expedition which might be very rewarding or deliver them into mortal peril. Of course it actually will be both.

No wacky or silly characters. This is the characters first real deep plunge into the wonders and terrors of World of Darkness and that has to be played relatively straight or it cheapens the whole experience. While a little silliness is fine, because real people can be silly and a Son of Ether has to be at least a little silly, two dimensional cardboard cut outs are not.

No non-Mages, people lost in dream realms for the last one hundred years, Mokole kinfolk shamans who have seen the secret depths of the world, lost lovers of fairy knights or the like. This is the start of the careers for journeymen mages, not the middle or the end. They are just beginning their journeys.

Don't even think of asking for an exemption to these rules.


Character Creation game mechanic modifications

Game mechanics are of Mage-Revised edition.

Starting Arete is 2, not 1. A third point can be bought for 5 freebees.

Willpower costs one point per dot for the first three points. The last two (Willpower 9&10) cost 2 per dot.

Everyone starts with a free point in Arcane.

No one may start with any points in Node or Influence.

Library is not forbidden, but capped at 3.

Mentor is capped at 2.

Allies are capped at 2.

Contacts are capped at 1.

Wonders is not capped, but everything must be okayed by me.

[Josh]

So is this a skype game or wha?

[Cynical Cat]

Yep, this is the Skype game.

[frigidmagi]

Let me start digging through the old mage books and see what jumps up at me.

[White Haven]

Willpower costs one point per dot for the first three points. The last two (Willpower 9&10) cost 2 per dot.

What does that imply for dots four through eight?

[Cynical Cat]

Read Mage. That will tell you that Mages start with five Willpower at character creation and can buy five more points with freebees.

[White Haven]

Aaah, okay, I see what you're saying now. I'd been reading over Mage, but brainfarted at that bit.

[SirNitram]

To double-check: The revised book is the '95 release?

[Hotfoot]

I believe it's the Third Edition from 2000

[Cynical Cat]

The Virtual Adept is correct.

[Marcao]

So, I read up on the mage book and I two traditions immediately stood out. The Cult of Ecstasy and the Euthanatos. After some deliverations, I think that I am going to roll Euthanatos. I am working on a skeleton of the character as we speak.

[Karrick]

I'm a little torn on this. My first (and thus far only) experience with WoD was a Mage game that was... silly. And populated by silly people and things. I described some of it to Hotfoot, and his reaction consisted (justifiably) of varying levels of incredulity. On the other hand, Cyncat has written some good Mage fiction and I think playing WoD straight could be good. I also have no idea what I'd do for a character, either background or mechanics-wise.

[LadyTevar]

Sorry, Marcao, I posted an Euthanatos first

EDITED to remove the secondary skills, but that leaves me confused on points. Please help

Name: Allyson Pauley
Tradition: Euthantos
Essence: Dynamic

Concept:Perky Goth

Attributes:
Physical:
Str: 2
Dex: 2
Stam: 2

Social:
Chr: 3
Manip: 2
App: 3

Mental:
Perc: 3
Wits: 3
Int: 4

Abilities:
Talents:
Alertness 3
Awareness 1
Dodge 1


Skills:
Drive 1
Firearms 1
Gambling 1
Melee 2
Research 2
Stealth 2

Knowledges:
Investigation 1
Law 1
Medicine 1
Occult 1
Science 4
-- Forensics
Alchemy 2
Herbalism 1
Poison 1

Backgrounds:
Avatar : 4
Resources: 2
Arcane: 3
Familiar: 1

Merit/Flaw:
Jack of All Trades +5
Curiousity -3

Spheres:
Entropy 2
Life 2
Mind 1
Prime 1

Arete: 3
Willpower: 5
Quintessence: 6

Freebies Spent:15
5 to Arete
2 to buy Merit
2 to Backgrounds

[Cynical Cat]

Well Tev

1) You need to stop referencing a TV show that irritates the Storyteller with reference to this character.

2) I strongly advise against buying a Sphere with starting freebees, but that's your choice.

3) Your abilities are wrong. You've paid full price for secondary abilities, instead of half price. Then you've decided to buy some of the crappier secondary abilities for lower levels than the broader primer abilities that cover the same areas. Having 4 points in Science and 2 in Chemistry makes no sense, as does having 2 in Alertness and 1 in Scan.

[SirNitram]

I'm torn between somewhat silly(Pulp hero Son Of Ether) and tragic(Widower Hermetic).

[Marcao]

It is quite alright Tev, your Euthanatos and mine don't look like they will be very alike.

[Hotfoot]

So I have a logistical question which I'm sure will shock you, oh great lord of cynicism, but what year, approximately, will this all be taking place in?

Is it the in-universe/metaplot year of roughly 2000 or so, shortly after the Avatar Storm, or is it the year 2012/3/whatever a cognate for "now" or "near now" is, whatever time you deem fit ahead of the Avatar Storm?

As you might imagine, this may have to do with props. And by props, I mean foci.

Because, you know, 1337 foo's and their tools.

[Cynical Cat]

2012. The Game is the same, just got more fierce.

[Hotfoot]

Indeed.

[Cynical Cat]

Also Tev your Quintessence score makes zero sense. Also Sanctum is a poor choice to start with. You're on an expedition.

[Hotfoot]

So, I have created a script to help me create a VAdept handle using the numerology section of the Tradition Book.

That just happened.

[LadyTevar]

Also Tev your Quintessence score makes zero sense. Also Sanctum is a poor choice to start with. You're on an expedition.

I wasn't thinking of that. Working on it.

[frigidmagi]

Name: Owen Garret
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1
Weight: 189 pds
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Age: 27
Total XP: 51
Spent XP: 49
Unspent XP: 2

Owen Garret was the only son of a single mother. A high school drop-out who died when Garret was in his late teens. After his mother's death, Garret moved to Phoenix looking for work. While he graduated high school, he didn't have much in the way of skills. So he found himself doing criminal work and becoming a drug dealer. Weed, Ecstasy, painkillers, Viagra and LSD were his drugs of choice. He avoided meth and heron out of a dislike of needles and a preference for repeat costumers. Managing to avoid the great mistakes of drug dealing (selling where he would get police attention or sampling the product) he did fairly well for himself. That caused him to get cocky and cross the wrong people. He got slammed down on hard and barely escaped with his life, and had to run west. He kept running until he got to Hong Kong. There, he starting selling again but again managed to piss off the wrong people. He ran west again. It was in bumfuck south China that he awakened. This of course only got him more of the wrong kind of attention.

Owen was lead contestant for the grand prize of an unmarked shallow grave and an unmourned death when Master Bao found him. Master Bao himself had had a complicated history, among other things having been a fairly amoral guerrillas in the war against the French and later the Americans. To the point that his own had turned him out. So he was well equipped to take the little shit that was Owen Garret in hand and try to salvage an actual human being out of him. It was an uphill battle, Owen was savage, cocky and headstrong. But the experience of having someone who actually gave a damn about him and demanded that he be better then he was was one that changed him deeply. Owen found himself not just taking to the teachings about magic, do and power but to morality and philosophy and things he never gave a damn about before. For the first time ever Owen engaged in self reflection... And he didn't like what he saw.

This was the great turning point in Owen's life where he truly began to apply himself and become an actual human being. He began to grow and learn and his relationship with Master Bao become one of favored student and master instead of conflict. Master Bao believed in being a force for good and justice and passed these ideals on to Owen. This often led to quiet discussions over what good and justice actually were. This was the happiest and most productive time in Owen's life. All things end however.

Master Bao was locked in a war with a nest of infernalists who among other things ran a number of criminal enterprises along the Vietnamese/Chinese border. They preyed on sleeper and an awakened with no qualms or mercy. These were hard and brutal men and women who played vampires and technocrats off of each other to keep their place. Master Bao was their greatest threat. When Owen was seen with Master Bao, but not on the field of battle, the cunning monsters zeroed on Owen as Bao's weakest point.

First they lured Master Bao away and then arranged for Owen to learn of a meeting. Owen's arrogance made him believe that he could outmatch the infernalists if he caught them one at a time. When he “attacked” it was as if a lamb had charged a wolf pack. It was his first and to date last confrontation with infernalists of any number. The best that can be said of it is that he was luckier then the lamb would have been in the same situation. Owen was soon trapped, unable to raise any defenses and unable to use his time honored tactic of running the fuck away. Just as the infernalists struck their last blow, Master Bao arrived and intervened. Master Bao was able to hit the infernalists, but in doing so he took the hit meant for Owen. It was a strike at the mind which would have destroyed Owen completely. It couldn't do that to Master Bao, but it did drive him utterly insane.

Owen limped out of the fight dragging a barely aware Master Bao. He was able to raise an alarm that brought in a number of Master Bao's old cabal. They healed Owen's wounds, but very little could be done for Master Bao, as he slipped into the Quiet. Owen was at first determined to care for Master Bao as a self induced penance. But the other masters weren't about to either waste his potential or let him off that easy. They would care for their old comrade. Owen was to be unleashed on the world. In the words of Master Kwai “When things go wrong... I go back to the beginning. Things have gone wrong for you. You will only find your true path if you go back to your beginning.”

Owen returned to the United States. He was legally dead but just as well really. Since then Owen has tried to seek his own enlightenment while upholding justice and good. He hasn't done so hot. He needs more power, knowledge and allies, as it stands he is easy prey and barely able to comprehend the things that wish to kill him or worse. It is at this point that a strange man has made him offer to seek a library...

Essence: Questing
Tradition: Akashic Brotherhood
Nature: Martyr
Demeanor: Bravo
Arete: 3 (-5 freebies)
Willpower: 8 (-3 freebies)
Quintessence: 3

Attributes;

Physical (5)
Str: 2
Dex: 3
Sta: 3

Social (3)
Char: 2
Man: 2
App: 2

Mental (7)
Per: 4
Int: 3
Wits: 3

Abilities;

Talents (13/3 XP spent)
Alertness: 3
Athletics: 2
Awareness: 2
Do: 3
Dodge: 3
Streetwise: 3 (-2 freebies)

Skills (9)
Firearms: 2
Meditation: 2
Melee: 2
Stealth: 3
Persuasion: 2

Knowledge (5)
Linguistics: 2 (Vietnamese) (Barsoomian)
Enigmas: 2
Occult: 1
Investigation: 1

Background (7 +1 free arcane)
Arcane: 2
Avatar: 3
Dream: 3

Sphere;
Mind: 3 (Foci: Mantra)
Forces: 3 (Do: Combat/Kata)
Life: 2 (Foci: Meditation)

Merits:
Resistant Pattern (-7) Aggravated damage means nothing to you, at least not personally. Enchanted Weapons, vampire fangs, deadly spells and toxic waste can still harm you but this damage is no worse then that dealt out by ordinary weapons, cat claws, car crashes and sports injuries, any of which can still kill you. You take only lethal damage from attacks that would normally score aggravated wounds, including Avatar Storm.

Code of Honor (-2) information to be filled out

Flaws:
Short Fuse (+2) Your mage is quick to anger. Whenever anyone ticks off your character you make make a Willpower (6) roll to not go on the offensive.

Vengeful (+2) Someone pissed your mage off, and he plans to get even. Your mage wants to even the score with one individual or group. This victim may or may not be an enemy — the subject may not even be aware of the perceived slight — but your mage takes it seriously and counts it as a major part of his life. You must spend a Willpower point to turn your mage away from the object of his vengeance when a situation crops up to potentially wreak havoc on the opponent in question.

Gear: 1 hat (black), 1 overcoat (black), 1 scarf (red), 2 pistols (45's), 1 tonfa, 1 pocketknife, 1 wallet, 1 pair of shoes, 1 backpack (empty) shirt and pants, 1 cell phone.

Advancement Notes: Bought 1 dot in Athletics March 10th (3 XP). Bought 3rd sphere in forces April 20th (24XP). Spent 4 XP for 2nd dot of Athletics May 13th. Spent 3 XP for 1 dot of Persuasion May 13th. July 9th 2nd Sphere Life for 14XP, Learn Barsoomian for 4XP, second dot Persuasion for 4 XP.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Giles Winston Forsythe (Embodied Word: Collatus)
Order of Hermes, House Bonisagus
Essence: Questing
Nature: Sage
Demeanor: Theorist

Physical description
Height: 1.8 meters
Weight: 75 kilos
Hair: close cropped light brown
Eyes: green, bespectacled


Strength 3
Dexterity 3
Stamina 2

Charisma 2
Manipulation 2
Appearance 2

Perception 3
Intelligence 4 (Analytical)
Wits 3

Alertness 1
Awareness 1
Athletics 1
Dodge 1
Expression 1

Etiquette 1
Melee 3 (Blades)
Meditation 3
Drive 1
Crafts 1

Academics 3 (Philosophy)
Cosmology 1
Enigmas 2
Research 2 (2 freebies used, half price due to it being specialized)
Linguistics 3 ( 2 freebies)
--Kings English (first), Latin, Greek, German, Hebrew
Occult 3
Enochian 1
Umbrood Protocols 1

Arcane 1
Avatar 4 (1 freebie used)
Dream 5 (1 freebie used)
Resources 2 (2 freebies used)
Mentor 1 (1 freebies used)
Library 1 (1 freebie used)


Arete 3 (5 freebies used)

Willpower 7 (2 freebies used)
Quintessence 4
Resonance: Static, geometric patterns

Forces 3 (Latin Language--naming, relating and commanding the forces of the universe)
Spirit 1 (Combinations of binding Circles and Enochian Glyphs)
Prime 2 (Pentagram--representing the unity of the elements, man, and the Supreme Good from which creation is an emanation)

Nearsighted (+1 freebies)
Bards Tongue (+1 Freebies)

Giles was born in London, in the year 1980 to parents in the inherited-wealth upper crust of English society. His father (Warrick Forsythe) came from a family that owned a successful steel mill back in the Gilded Age (though he himself chose commodity speculation), while his mother (Elizabeth Rutherford being her maiden name) hailed from a long line of barristers. They met at Oxford, realized that a merger would be mutually beneficial, and proceeded to produce a stellar disappointment as an heir. Their son was bright and ambitious--but not in the money-making social-climbing sort of way. He enjoyed knowledge for its own sake--including attempts at understanding-by-way-of-doing. He eventually went to Oxford (as was expected), where he studied medieval history and philosophy (while taking up historical battle re-enactment. Imagine the horror when the boy donned a hauberk to re-enact Hastings and ended up having his fingers broken by someone a bit too enthusiastic with a blunted sword. Then there was Bosworth. Thank Plato for the NHS).

His awakening was a gradual thing. Most of the time, Awakening happens in a time of trauma or duress and the first use of Magic is an attempt to correct the source of that trauma. Not so for Giles. It started with dreams. As a child, he often had dreams that had a fantastical component, but as he progressed through university and the constant stress of attempting to get through classes. His awakening was less a flash of insight or a lashing out as it was a slow integration. Almost as if his Avatar was slowly instructing him alongside his teachers. It happened initially in the form of dreams where he would have philosophical dialogues with himself about what was going on in his coursework, and moved from there. He developed an interest in medieval Mysticism and suddenly took his coursework in history in somewhat different directions. Initially his interest was in Ethics and Military History, but one term in his third year he took courses in Neoplatonic Philosophy, Medieval Mysticism and Religion, and Epistemology. One of the professors teaching Epistemology-- Richard Cadfael--took him under his proverbial wing presumably groomimg him for graduate school. That was not his actual intention. Their course of "individual instruction" got more and more esoteric until actual discussions of magical theory were taking place and the professor had him try his hand at various spells--spells that actually worked. And no, before you say it, they were not coincidences. Rigorous training in Epistemology allows one to separate that out reasonably well. He moved from the first degree to the second, quickly able to learn that one need not invoke some deity or spirit to use magic, but rather that they simply worked as useful symbols. It was at some point while learning High Ritual Magic that his awakening was complete. There was no flash of insight, no grand epiphany. He simply came to a certain understanding of the Cosmos.

Just after graduation, the Personnel Office assigned him to a Pater inside House Bonisagus--the near defunct magical theorists of the Order. Most of the House Masters were apparently trapped beyond the Guantlet, killed or simply unaccounted for which probably amounted to the same thing. The House was now mostly in the hands of the small "under 100 years old" contingent. What a wonderful time to join the Order of Hermes! His parents had never been pleased with his course of study, impractical as it was. Really though, they just wanted what any parent wanted, for him to be happy and successful. They were just limited in their conception about what that might be. Nonetheless, they accepted it. They still had The Rules, namely that after he left university he would need to be self-supporting (barring emergencies, obviously. They were his parents afterall). So, when he finished "graduate school", otherwise known as his apprenticeship (which had the side effect of also being graduate school), his trust fund got diverted to other investments. They still dont know what he has actually been doing, but parents will always notice a change in behavior. The time may come when he has to tell them something. On the other hand, being a mage brings all sorts of enemies (totalitarian mad scientist conspiracies being the least of them), and ignorance is a certain insulation from such things. He does not at all want to have that conversation.

For someone born with a silver spoon firmly inserted in one's buccal cavity, an Apprenticeship with Pater Walsham could be particularly trying at times. Payment for training it seemed came in the form of base labor. He had become The Help, and gained a whole new appreciation for what the maid went through. Picking up the dry cleaning, going to the store etc. Then there was instruction itself. Pater Walsham was the dual combination of distant and uncompromising in the early stages. Giles was a Zelator at that point, but the learning environment of his initial awakening and first degree of apprenticeship had not impressed upon him the discipline and independence that would be necessary if he was to survive in the long term (and he learned that it could be really really long term). So Pater Walsham combined very high expectations with the socratic method and pointedly not being around when all but the most critical questions needed asking or when stern correction was required. Granted, he was always there when it was necessary or when safety nets were needed. One thing that was a bit unusual was that Giles manifested a very strong ability to "consult" with the cosmos while me meditated, and sometimes... when he was not meditating. However, the latter is almost always in the form of some horrifically uncomfortable prophecy: Sometimes trivial and sometimes not so trivial; always cryptic and of a Sophoclean Bent so that even the warning is not useful because attempts to avoid the fate in question lead you to fulfill it. You know the drill if you have read Oedipus Rex. Why? Maybe some sort of bleed-over? Maybe his brain just filters out the good things because he is a glass-half-empty sort? He has yet to figure out how to make his conscious rather than subconscious do that work. Pater Walsham just grinned wolfishly when the subject was broached and said "You'll figure it out. In time.", leaving Giles wondering about temporal mechanics and shuddering when he got the hint 5 minutes after he left the room.

Eventually, he was initiated fully into the Order and reached the rank of Adept. His trial is not something Giles is willing to discuss. He moved to New England (a term he always found amusing. New indeed), and earned a (very) modest living as a part time fencing instructor and adjunct professor (the pay is low, but enough) in a small community college while continuing his magical studies. It worked for him, up until the Email came. He jumped at the chance to go on an Expedition.

Personality: Giles is young, and has a sense of Duty. Duty to his fellow mages, and a duty to Sleepers to help them Awaken, or at least buck the bonds that the Technocracy places on their lives through class structure and manipulation. Moreover, he actually believes in the Code of Hermes and the principles underlying it. He values knowledge and enlightenment over material things, and thus lives a life relatively devoid of creature comforts. His small one-bedroom apartment is fairly spartan, he has a bed, a desk, a small ruggedized netbook computer that contains a modest library. He keeps a small pentacle amulet around his neck, and otherwise has his various tools of his magical and mundane trade neatly organized. Thus he attempts to minimize external distractions and lives the life of a stoic.

Equipment, Gear, Material Possessions, and Work Tools
1998 Geo Metro, Hatchback.
Panasonic Toughbook:with his library backed up on flash drives. Has an office suite, web browser, citation management software. Really really basic stuff. But it can survive hardships.
Weapons
Epee, Foil, Sabre--Useless as weapons mostly, used in teaching
Rapier—swept hilt
Sword--oakshot classification XVIIIc, diamond cross sectioned hand and half configuration, cut and thrust design.
Misericord
fencing dagger
Buckler
Competition Fencing Gear
Historical Fencing Gear: Padded gambeson, brigadine coat, vambraces, steel gorget, kettle helm, gauntlets.
Duster Coat:
Tweed. All The Tweed
Backpack
Utility belt: Basically an elaborate fanny pack for holding magical foci, as detailed below
Elaborate Pentacle Amulet: This is a stainless steel pentacle with additional metal work specifying which classical elements are represented by each point, surrounded by a circle that symbolizes the control of an awakened mind, the passage of time, cycle of life, and unity with the Supreme Good. This serves as his focus for quick and dirty Prime magics (like creating fire ex nihlo, or temporarily infusing his sword with Prime), permanent enchantments would of course require more elaborate pentacular workings as suits the spell.
Multi-Surface Writing Impliments: Essentially what he would need to craft written or enscribed enochian glyphs and binding circles on a variety of surfaces. Archival Pens, Chalk, Salt, Silly String, a pen knife, finger paints, gel pens, a few colored sharpies
Hiking and camping gear: Not too crazy. Enough to stay out a few days to a week in the temperate zone during not-horrific weather conditions.

[Cynical Cat]

That's not going to fly Ben. You're not having a dangerous apprenticeship, you're not getting a half crazy Bonisagus teacher, and you're not getting dropped out of the world in such a way that your parents think you've joined a cult.