Hi to those of you that have already been added to the game. Here's an OOC thread for y'all to introduce yourselves, talk to each other, ask me any questions, etc.

Good morning everyone!  Super thrilled to be joining you all!

I'm a complete newcomer to Mage, so the lore of the setting is going to be a bit of a learning curve for me, though I'm familiar with the general shape of White Wolf rules from Werewolf and Vampire games.  I preemptively beg your kind indulgence for my inevitable dumb newbie questions.  :)

In reply to Arwen (msg # 2):

Hi! Glad to be playing with you as well. I've been playing this game for the last decade or so, with some breaks in between. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and don't Panic! You need not beg for we are all at peace here.

I'm in the same boat as Arwen - reasonably familiar with the wider WoD, but first run through Mage.  Really looking forward to it!

Hey! I have played a bit of Mage before, but the campaigns always ended in pretty short order, so I only have a very cursory understanding of the rules and setting.

Updated the House Rules with some important info that will affect starting mana, and possibly XP expenditures. You will all start with shared dots in the Sanctum merit, which will also have a single dot of the Library and Hallow merits as well.

I will leave it up to you guys to decide what you'd like to call your Cabal, and you can figure out where your Sanctum is (pay attention to game setting -- should be in DC metro area, but likely outside of DC proper). It's a Size 3 Sanctum, so it has anywhere between 5-8 rooms in the house. Also feel free to discuss what you'd like the topic of your dot in Library to be.

Also feel free to discuss how you guys came to be a Cabal and any sort of background ties/connections your characters may have had with each other that lead them to becoming a Cabal.

Poke me here or via PM if you've got any questions or need help with anything on your sheet. You should all have access to edit your sheets now, let me know if you don't for some reason.

I'll be playing Mamanu, a Martial Artist in the Adamantine Arrow who focuses Primarily on the Arcana of Life and Time. He's a Perfected adept, and spends a lot of time doing physical training and looking after the physical health of the Cabal. He's not a doctor, but he's adept at Holistic techniques and is a trained personal trainer and health coach.

I don't have any immediate ideas for the Library topic, but I'd love to make ties with the rest of the Cabal so we can sort things out.

I'll be playing Acciaio, a private investigator from the Guardians of the Veil. He focuses on Death and Matter, and spends his time looking into odd goings-on to see if they need to be hidden from the Sleepers, and if they represent some sort of misuse of magic that needs to be dealt with.

Hi, I'll be playing link, a computer wizard.

Question: How does sharing merits work in this game?

It seems we are starting with shared premises.

Mechanical:
Can we spend extra xp on them?
If yes, how do we calculate this?

Example:
A and decide to buy 2 more dots of library that already has one dot

a) Each buys a dot and pays 2xp
b) Buying a second dot costs 4xp (paid by A) and the third one costs 6xp (paid by B)
c) A and B each pay 5xp
d) Each player buys a full merit (A: library, B: Hallow), then shares it

Are two shared 1-dot Hallows cheaper than 1 2-dot Halllow?

Which merits are shareable? Merits? Safe place? Retainer? Library? Allies? Hallow?

@players: If we can spend xp on this - how many are each of you willing to set aside for sharing? Makes sense to plan this before making the sheet and not having xp lefft.

Storywise:
What kind of a place do we go for? Seven gables? Luxury living? Dusty university dorm atmosphere?

Hi there!

Based on your example, it would be closes to Case A. If player A spends 2 xp to invest in Library, and then player B spends 2 xp to invest a dote in Library as well, the total shared Library would be at 3 dots since it started with 1.

Hallows are quite rare, but still a shared merit that follows the rules stated above. That said, you wouldn't just be able to buy another Hallow in the same Sanctum, beyond the 1-dot Hallow already found in the Sanctum. There are ways to create/improve hallows via spells and other ways, which would be necessary in order to invest further XP into the existing Hallow.

"Housing merits" are generally shareable (e.g. Sanctum, Library, Hallow, Alchemical Lab, Scriptorium, etc.) but other Social Merits like Allies, Contacts, Retainers and the like are not.

In reply to Link (msg # 9):


Chiron's more or less done - I've only got about 9xp left, and will probably drop that into skills or rotes.  In terms of living arrangements, he's just going to be happy he's not living in a van down by the river.  He's young, delighted by all of this, and little of his new life doesn't represent a material improvement on his old one, so . . . he's pretty much just happy to be here.

Will it be possible to gain resources and improve the Sanctum through play?  I mean, the tidbits about the Smithsonian hiding old Mysterium treasures is super-tempting.  If we manage to find and raid one of these, could that end up translating into a boost to the Library (or at least a rationale to dump xp into boosting it)?

Yes, you'll be able to acquire resources and improved the Sanctum in play.

Keep in mind, as a member of the Mysterium, you probably don't want members of other Orders raiding an Athaneum...but say, you wanting to find one and "recover" some of the lost lore, and your Cabal-mates helping, then that'd be more acceptable/reasonable and less risk of upsetting higher ups in the Mysterium.

But as a general rule of thumb, there will be opportunities for people to spend XP to improve a variety of things in game and use IC justifications for learning new skills, spells, acquiring imbued items, etc.

Thanks for the clarification on sharing

Looks like I've spent my dots mostly anyway.

Do you want us to modify the character sheet to include
- nimbus?
- magical tools?
- standard equipment?

I'm happy to spend one point into Sanctum security.

Montgomery County might be a good place for us to have a Sanctum.

Sure, that works!

Works for me.  There's a community garden project nearby, at Montgomery Gardens.  Chiron would be all over that.

My character has a lot of Occultation, so she'll go wherever you guys go. She is so happy you put in the effort of remembering her that she'll live anywhere you like.

She has one dot of Hallow (which is a VERY useful merit). Could be private or shared. If we share a Hallow, we'll need more than one dot though. Hallows, after all, are the batteries that power mages (unless you really think that ritual self-mutilation is a great alternative).

In reply to Link (msg # 17):

So, I know Nimbus reflects with path, but is it individual?  Does each of us have a "signature" nimbus?

So...   I'm trying to put a sheet together, and...  wow, the magic system seems -really- complicated.  :)

Anybody have any useful advice?  General principles, specific awesome things to consider?  So far from the thread I have "Hallow is very useful."  :)

In reply to Arwen (msg # 19):

So, as a total newb, my process was:

1.  Start with the "basic" arcana associated with my path (for me, Life and Spirit).  You have more than enough dots and xp to get to 3.

2.  Look at some cool stuff you might want for spells, i.e., "rotes".

3. If needed, bump arcana to necessary levels.

4. Learn about improvised casting.  Make sure you have Space 2, so you can do it at sympathetic range.

5.  Discover there's cool spells in Space.  Then discover there's cool spells in Prime.  Then discover, there's cool spells in pretty much every Arcana.

6.  Discover a cool sounding Legacy. Re-jig character to fig legacy

7.  Stop stressing about it, and decide it will all get sorted in game.

Yes, each mage’s Nimbus tends to be unique in some way, just like their resonance is as well. It is basically your “magical” signature.

As an Obrimos mage, your home turf is Forces and Prime

You have two ways of casting spells: rotes and improvised spells.

Most of your spells are improvised. They Use Gnosis + Arcanum, which makes it useful to have a Gnosis of 3 or 4.

There is a 2 dot limit on the Death Arcanum for starting Obrimos (inferior Arcanum).

Rotes: If you as an Obrimos cast a spell that isn't Forces or Prime, you have to pay one mana for doing so. Learning a rote saves you the mana.
You should also learn rotes from Forces and Prime if
1.) You plan on using that spell often AND
2.) It's the kind of spell where it is desirable to have lots of successes AND
3.) You have a dice pool for that rote that is clearly better than Gnosis + Arcanum (because you could simply improvise it otherwise). As a Free Council mage, all your rote dice pools that include Crafts, Persuasion and Science are +1.

Two spells worth considering are a mage armor spell (there's one 2 dot spell for each Arcanum, Prime works differently than the others) and a Mage sight spell (there's a 1 dot mage sight for each Arcanum). Mage armor spells are usually cast as long-term, always-on spells (see later).

Three traps when learning spells:
- Vulgar spells can cause you trouble with fellow mages and can cause Paradox (a magical fumble).
- Some spells cost mana. This isn't a big problem, but your battery isn't infinite (use Hallows and Oblations to recharge)
- some spells are extended (read: slow). Even at Gnosis 4, they take at least an hour to cast (3 hours at Gnosis 1 and 2). Example: Space 3 Portal (=Teleportation) is a cool spell, but it is not usually a combat spell, because the enemy might interrupt your Ritual before you manage to teleport them up that tree.

Space 2 allows long distance casting ("sympathetic casting", p. 114), Fate 2 gives you Conditional casting (p. 150), Time 2 gives you Temporal Sympathy (p. 259, which means casting spells into the past or future), Death allows you to deal with the world of ghosts (dead people), Spirit allows you to see the world of spirits (strange beings modeled on concepts like tree or sloth).

Unless otherwise noted, your standard range for spells (without space) is what you can see, which is usually enough (most of my characters do not have sympathetic magic).

Don't worry about inventing your own spells yet. The given spells cover a lot of ground, and most Storytellers handwave minor effects (like an Acanthus Time mage knowing the time without looking at her watch).

Legacies are powerful, but the kind of things that works best if you have all those extra books. They give you a third arcanum that doesn't require mana for casting and one or two paradox-free spell-like powers. They also add a whole new level of complicatedness.
I've decided against my character being in a legacy in this game. I couldn't be bothered with being a member in yet another group of people (Mastigos and Silver Ladder is enough for me). You don't really need that extra power to be powerful enough anyway and, of course, Hansel and Gretel or Red Riding Hood show us that telling a good story has little to do with power.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Sun 30 Jan 2022.

Okay, I think I'm done... and I've got one dot of Sanctum to donate wherever y'all think it's needed.

Thanks Link for replying to Arwen's question!

You covered all the basics and then some, but do let me know if anyone's got any further questions about magic/spellcasting, legacies, or anything else.

Yeah, definitely thanks much Link!  I was reading your post and like, "jeez, why didn't they just put that in the book?"  :D

You're welcome!

There are two changes I still have to make to my character:

- I can't use my shared dot to add to our Hallow, but I'm open to spending it in another way that benefits us (Library maybe? Or sanctum security?)

- I suddenly find myself with spare merit dots, so maybe I'll change my way about taking a legacy.

A few questions based on this.  I've noticed that most of the rotes indicate a particular Order as the origin.  Are we restricted from taking them if we belong to a different order?
 Also, many rotes indicate different possible dice pools.  Are we limited in which one we choose to use when casting / learning that rote?  Finally, is casting a rote more limited than spontaneous casting?

For example, I figure one of Chiron's most commonly used spells will be "Rouse Spirit".  As a rote, his casting pool is either 6 (Free Council version) or 7 (Silver Ladder version).  His spontaneous casting pool for the spell is 6.  The spell isn't contested, but the description notes that mages tend to assign more duration factors, so more successes = good.

1. Can Chiron, as a Mysterieum mage, learn this as a rote at all?
2. If he learns it as a rote, can he choose either version?
3. He's Thyrsus, so can improvise it for no mana, BUT, if he wants successes, the larger dice pool from the SL version gives him more chances.  If he casts it as a rote, can he still use "extra" successes to extend the duration?

I've taken a bunch of rotes in my core Arcana on the assumption that you'd learn be more likely to learn spells from Arcana you know best.  But if rotes are basically a formulaic shortcut for using weaker arcana, I may need to re-draft a little.  This is less about "power", and more about actually being able to do stuff in the game.  If Chiron can reliably run around dropping spirit and life spells, he's better off learning utility rotes from his weaker arcana, yeah?

So my general rule of thumb is that if a Rote shows up in the core Mage the Awakening book, anyone can learn the rote. Feel free to use whatever version of the rote is more beneficial to you (in your example, use the SL version instead of FC since it gives you a higher dice pool). For Rotes that are found in specific Order books, then those are considered "secrets" of that Order and cannot be learned by member of a different Order at character creation. There may be ways to learn those in-game if your character manages to gain access to another Order's secrets somehow. For Rotes found in other books that aren't the core MtAw book or the Order books, please check with me to make sure :)

Casting a Rote isn't necessarily more limited than an improvised casting. There will be cases in which your Gnosis + Arcana will be a higher dice pool than the Rote, so you may not want to spend XP on that rote. Generally speaking though, Rotes tend to have higher dice pools since they are using Attribute + Skill + Arcana. So if you are hoping to cast a spell with a lot of successes, then having a higher dice pool will be beneficial to you.

Rotes aren't just a formulaic shortcut for using weaker Arcana. It can be beneficial to have Rotes from Arcana not in your Path to help save some Mana, but in some cases you may end up having a higher dice pool with an improvised casting, so then you'd have to evaluate whether saving the 1 mana cost is worth having the lower dice pool.

I think Link's suggestions about how to figure out whether you want to buy a Rote or not are fairly spot on. One addition I'd make is that casting Vulgar spells via a Rote instead of improvised casting can also help with mitigating some Paradox, so that's another thing to consider which Rotes to learn.

Security is a solid choice for this, and it'll put us at 4/5 which is almost capped.

Thanks ST (and Link!).  In my example above, if Chiron casts Rouse Spirite as a Rote, and gains extra successes, is he able to use those extra successes to boost the duration?  Or is that only if he casts as improvised?

In reply to Chiron (msg # 31):

Yes, he should still be able to assign the extra successes to duration regardless.

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 32):


So, based on this discussion, I can free up 4xp from Organic Resilience, as there doesn't seem to be any utility for extra successes.  Any use for the xp in the sanctum, or should I just pick up another utility rote?

As an aside, Link, Chiron is a Neocologist, and is thinking about awakening the sanctum spirit.  Given Link's computer bent, and the risk of "vulgarity", any interest in some in-game cooperation to channel the spirit into some kind of localised AI / Alexa situation?

Arwen is definitely a city girl and would for sure enjoy a supernaturally awesome Alexa.

Just out of curiosity, am I correctly interpreting peoples' remarks here to indicate that we have a Physical-focused character and a few more Mental-focused characters?  I'm thinking of a few different ways I could go with Arwen but if there's an obvious social-skills.attributes gap in our party at the moment then I'm completely happy to go that way.

I have no idea what a neocologist is or does. Which book is that? Awakening the spirit?

In reply to Link (msg # 35):

Tome of the Watchtowers.  They're a Thyrsus legacy that seeks to transplant nature spirits into "modern" / industrial homes.  Rather than save nature by fighting modernity, they try to bridge the gap, and help spirits survive in the new world.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:58, Sun 30 Jan 2022.

Here's a thing I googled btw, that I've found useful in helping me contemplate spells.

http://wodcodex.com/wiki/Spells,_All_(1st_Edition)

I suggest that our library topic be The Consilium of DC. They can be the last records of the previous Consilium and a springboard for us to go and reclaim lost territory or establishing new territory. It also kinda gives us a focus to work with as a cabal, being investigating and recovering what was lost.

I think that sounds about right, and given Arwen's background, it does make sense for her to have some strong social skills!

Link's brainy.

I like the idea but I'm unsure how I can help.

I'll have a Merits dot to add to our Sanctum too.

By the sounds of it, the shared Sanctum has the additional dots being contributed to it:

Arwen - 1 dot (just gotta pick whether you want to increase Size, Security, add it to Library?)
Mamanu - 1 dot (going to Security)
Acciaio - 2 dots (just gotta pick whether you want to increase Size, Security, add it to Library?)
Link - 1 dot (just gotta pick whether you want to increase Size, Security, add it to Library?)

Did I miss any?

With the starting stats of the shared Sanctum being Size 3, Security 2, Library 1 and Hallow 1 and Mamanu's point going into Security to bump that to 3, we still have 4 dots to distribute from others contributing shared dots. You all could use 2 of those to max out the sanctum's security at 5, and could add 2 more dots of Library if you'd like? Or if you'd like the Sanctum to be bigger, you could also do that. Currently, it is the equivalent of a large home with 5-8 rooms. Just let me know how you'd like to distribute those remaining dots so I can update everyone's sheets accordingly with the finalized stats of the sanctum.

I feel like Arwen would be appreciative of any of those three options!  And being a near-total ignoramus of the system, I'd be thrilled to entertain suggestions which way she should go?  :)

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 43):

I can free up 4xp if we need it - that's 2 more dots, correct?

Depends on how you spend them! If you were purchasing 2 dots of the same Merit, it would cost 6XP, but if you were say buying 1 dot of Sanctum, and 1 dot of Library, each of those would cost 2XP, so it would total up to 4XP.

Size will give us a bigger area to work with. I don't think we need a bigger size Sanctum than we have - 8 rooms is plenty [1 for each character and 3 spare rooms for libraries or other augments.]

If you're not passionate about anything else, security would be my recommendation.

Acciaio has decided to put their 2 dots into Security, so currently the shared Sanctum stats are as follow:

Size: 3
Security: 5
Library: 1
Hallow: 1

@Link -- would you prefer to bump up Size or Library at this point?

@Arwen -- based on some of the conversation we're having via PMs, I can see you adding your dot to Library, with the topic being something like "Dead/Forgotten Languages" or something similar. Thoughts?

Anyone else have any ideas for the Library topic for the freebie dot the Sanctum started with? Or do you all like Mamanu's suggestion of "The Consilium of DC"?

Love it, let's do it.  :)

Does that seem a little bit narrow?  Would something like a more general "Magical history of DC" be too broad?

One more question - the character sheet we're given has an entry for "Mana Bleed."  What is that?  My copy of the core rulebook is a searchable .pdf, and that phrase isn't anywhere in it.

History of the Awakened in Washington, D.C.

Not as narrow -- because it would include historical records for mages in the area, but not limited to just the old DC Consilium?

But a little more limited than "magical history" since that could include other supernaturals and things that one might consider "magical."

Thoughts?

RE: Mana Bleed -- this likely won't come into play anytime soon, but its basically a mechanic for when your Wisdom drops lower than your Gnosis.

For example, if John Doe has a Gnosis of 6 but a Wisdom of only 3, his pattern bleeds 3 mana. That being said, I'm gonna be changing some of the rules around that since the formula I'm using for starting mana already involves Wisdom. So no need to worry about it! :)

Ooooh, gotcha.  So Arwen has Mana Bleed Zero at startup then.  :)

Re: the library, I guess I'm on general principle a fan of having the topics covered in our personal library leaning more towards breadth than depth, if that distinction makes sense?  I kind of feel like our library will most often just be a starting point for uncovering information, so as long as it gives us a reasonably actionable idea of where to look or who to consult for deeper or more obscure information, then it's doing its job.

Maybe 'Awakened History of DC'? Limited to mages but doesn't cover all other Supernaturals.

Sounds great to me!

Here's a thought for the group, since we were prompted to come up with a way our cabal came together and how we acquired our Sanctum:

A snip from my character's background is that she was the ward of her mage uncle until his death from illness just slightly before the game begins.  Maybe our Sanctum was Uncle Edmond's estate?  Bequeathed to Arwen with the condition that she welcome a few specific local DC mages who he was familiar with, either personally or by reputation?  I'd be happy to toss another couple of dots at the shared Sanctum in that case, in order to reflect Arwen's deeper connection to the place.  Thoughts?

Just keeping shared Sanctum stats updated, currently it sounds like we have the following:

Size: 3
Security: 5
Library: 2 (Awakened History of DC, Dead/Forgotten Languages)
Hallow: 1

@Link -- let me know whether you'd like to contribute an additional point in Size or Library.

If folks like Arwen's idea about inheriting the estate of her dead uncle, another point in Size couldn't hurt, so you'd have a much larger Sanctum with 9-15 rooms total and it could be an old mansion of sorts.

a pool?

library?

*shrug*

In reply to Link (msg # 56):

A garden / greenhouse?

This sounds like a great idea!

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 58):

If you're game, Arwen, that'd be great.  I can do 4xp of dots, if we're pooling.  I like the idea of the Scooby house, and that also lends itself to awakening it's spirit, something Chiron would be all about.

Nice, I'll add another couple of dots to the sanctum too, along with the one I already spent on the Library.  How about one for size, and one for Hallow?

There's almost nothing clearly defined about Arwen's uncle at the moment, other than that he was Edmond Byrne, Arwen's mother's brother, who introduced Arwen to the Cryptologos Legacy.  Do we want to make up reasons each of you might have known him, or been known to him?  Or do we want to just sort of handwave that?  :)

In reply to Arwen (msg # 60):

Hallow will be capped at 1 at game start, so no need to worry about improving that right now.

Probably fine for you to just add another dot of Size in addition to the Library dot you've already contributed.

Ooooh, gotcha.  Sure, I'll just do the one more dot for now then, adding to size.

No problem. So given that, I think the final stats for the shared cabal Sanctum are as follow:

Size: 4
Security: 5
Library: 3 (Awakened History of DC, Dead/Forgotten Languages, +1 more topic from Link's dot that needs to be picked still)
Hallow: 1

Any ideas for that 3rd dot of Library from Link's contribution?

Are there other merits than library we could invest in? It seems wasteful. On the one hand, I do want to pay my dues, but it feels like paying taxes, which I do with conviction, only to be disappointed again and again on how the money is spent.

I only feel it's wasteful if we pick a topic that we're not passionate about or interested in exploring. That said, there ARE a good amount of other options you can pick from.

Size, Security, and Library are all standard options for mage. Sanctum Materials increases the overall durability and resilience of the physical structure of the Sanctum, and is the last of the Shareable merits (with some Mysterium-specific exceptions). The ones below are all things that require a sanctum.

Guardian Ghost, Guardian Spirit, and Guardian Retainer can provide extra layers of defense, though they won't be super-effective at low levels.

Alchemical Lab is really only useful if we have someone engaging in Awakened Alchemy (creation of perfected metals that can be used to craft items).

Sanctum Gauntlet increases or decreases the strength of the Gauntlet in the Sanctum, making it easier (or more difficult) to interact with Spirits in the Shadow.

There's a summoning circle merit if you wanna like, Summon Supernal beings, but I don't know about that.

Where is that explained?

I think it would be atmospheric to have some kind of retainer on site. A (sleepwalker? ghost? animated constrct?) butler would be great, not for the mechanical benefits, but imagine you can order a dry martini anytime or have someone prepare a bubble bath or send someone to the library to retrieve the second volume of Pesigistimos Laws of the Arcane.

Okay that is admittedly wasteful, but at least it is extravagantly so.

It would be more fun than a +1 bonus to rolls on werewolves because we'd happen to have some dusty tomes on them.

Arwen has exactly 1xp left unspent but would be thrilled to toss it at something frivolous if we're allowed to combine points that way, as opposed to combining dots.

@Arwen, you cannot combine XP with another player in that way, so just hold onto that 1XP! You aren't the only one that has 1-2XP leftover.

@Link -- what you are describing sounds more like a Retainer, which isn't a shared merit either way. There is a Guardian Retainer variation of the merit, which is basically just like a sleepwalker Retainer, but this one is primarily trained for combat and more limited in scope since they won't do other things for you other than defend/guard your sanctum.

As far as the other merits described by Mamanu, they are all found on pages 85-86 of the Sanctum & Sigil book, with the exception of the Summoning Circle, which comes from the Summoners book...and I'm not gonna allow that for reasons...at least not right now :)

I've found a solution to the sanctum dot: I've made a clerical error calculating my merit dots. If I had calculated them correctly I would have noticed that there are no xp left for shared merit dots.

Sorry. :-(
This message was last edited by the player at 17:41, Wed 02 Feb 2022.

It happens! Don't worry about it. It means that the problem is resolved, and we can get into play sooner!

@Arwen

I think it's most likely that the local arrow introduced Mamanu to Edmond, probably to perform some sort of service for him while he was ill (though I'm not sure what yet). Mamanu was present often towards the end, but like now, kept to himself and part of the reason he was invited around was so that he wouldn't be on his own in this world of darkness.

How did we all meet?

As for how we all met, I think Arwen's suggestion of all being mutual connections of her late uncle might be an expedient way to get us moving, and we can work out specific details on the fly.

If you're looking for ties with Mamanu in particular, he's gone through a bachelors program at UDC before he awakened (and left the city shortly afterwards), but he's been mostly living in a monastery with his mentor since then. Even so, Service is a large part of the identity of the Adamantine Arrow, so Mamanu has been actively seeking out members of the Awakened community to help with whatever projects he can, be they mundane or supernal. This could be from moving boxes to helping study something in the library, so it's really open.

If everyone's cool with that idea, I think what Arwen and Mamanu are suggesting is sensible. Although, the Cabal still doesn't have a proper name! Then again, I'm happy for you all to either decide that before we start, or after y'all get a better feel for your own characters and each other. It could be a nameless cabal for now I guess :)

Sorry been a bit quiet today...had a really LONG work retreat that just finished and I've got so much computer fatigue right now :\

I'll be working on getting an IC thread for y'all to start RPing soon (either later tonight or tomorrow) -- probably just a chill scene in the Sanctum to get us started.

Faster, plot monkey, faster!  <whipcrack noise>

In reply to Arwen (msg # 75):

Only question at this point is did my 4 xp end up in something, or should I just tuck it away .  . .

Unless you want to add to any of the Sanctum merits mentioned in the discussion above, you can probably just save it or spend it elsewhere!

Omg, now I'm grinning at imagining Acciaio's assessment of Arwen.  To a certain segment of his generation she's probably -exactly- the sort of person who'd seem on the surface like a soft self-obsessed over-entitled millennial.  :D

Since we've got our first IC thread going, just wanted to remind folks about Oblations. You don't HAVE to do these, but they are a neat way of having more starting Mana in your scenes each month, plus also writing up some short story that gives me a glimpse of your character and their routine, etc.



My plan is to keep a running thread of these short stories as I receive them, so everyone can read them for fun and what not :)

Another thing I should've probably addressed earlier...post rates/pacing!

I'm sure we are all busy people IRL and don't always have the flexibility to be posting multiple times a day, every day. With that in mind, I want to make sure that whenever folks are in a scene together, we try both to keep some posting momentum, but also not get too far ahead and leave people behind.

So what I'd propose is the following:

-Please do not get more than 2 posts 'ahead' of the slowest poster in a Scene.

-The exception to this should be making a post that is used to facilitate things like breaking off into a new and/or side scene, or to keep things moving if, say, a character whose turn it isn't has been asked a direct question that everyone else is waiting for the answer on. This should never be done 'just because' or out of impatience or to gain some advantage. Be polite. Be considerate. Wait your turn when appropriate.

-If a player whose turn it is to post has taken more than 48 hours to respond, the other players/characters are free to move on, without IC consequences/repercussions.

All ok by me!

In reply to Arwen (msg # 81):


Yep.  I can post pretty much daily.  Sometimes more, and if I miss a day, it'll be a weekend, because rugrats.

In reply to Chiron (msg # 82):

No worries, weekends tend to be slow for a lot of folks :)

They last for one Scene normally, but they last 24 hours if you spend the mana.

Before we can write oblations at the Hallow, we'll need to dream up our Hallow.

They are, after all, magical places, so our Hallow should have a special feel to it, and tass should take a certain form. It should also be more than just another room. The book says that most Hallows are in elevated locations, but I hope we can ignore that bit of wisdom because it curbs creativity without giving anything back.
I'd like the Hallow to have minor magical effects (I' trying to choose effects that are interesting without giving us extra power)


Ideas for the Hallow:
- The old greenhouse (https://www.deviantart.com/gar...Greenhouse-202506311): Older than the mansion itself, it's not clear who built it, but  there is a sense of growth and renewal about it. Plants seem to grow faster and more beautifully, and vegetables and fruit grown there taste excellent. Occasionally, a certain kind of orchid can be found there that can be harvested as tass. There are no electric sockets there, and the mages don't dare install one to keep the aura of the Hallow intact, but the house comes with flashlights and portable power banks

- the slave barracks (https://malikwatkins.files.wor...dungeon-iv.jpg?w=460): A cellar room beneath the house, made out of stone with a sturdy door and iron rings set in the walls, more likely used to punish slaves than to house them. The room carries an aura of despair, so strong that you actually have to make a willpower roll every time you decide to do an oblation there. Failing that roll costs you a willpower point. If you manage to overcome your instinctive repulsion and manage to stay for as lang as it takes to complete the oblation, you'll first get the impression of hearing whispers, than snatches of spirituals and feel a sense of hope and resistance. Tass takes the form of spirituals that can be recorded as MP3 and released by playing them, which corrupts the file. At that point, you regain the willpower point you lost earlier. If you leave the room before that point, you do not regain your willpower point (you can regain it some other way).


- The astronomy tower (https://www2.hu-berlin.de/arch...apter-3/image-2a.jpg): Built in the 18th century, it has a lighning rod installed by Benjamin Franklin himself (who was a friend of the original owner of the building). It houses a modern Newton Telescope, a desk and chair, and is empty otherwise. The room is strangely unaffected by light pollution, allowing to observe the stars as if you were in the Atacama desert. The urge to know and belief in a better future still oozes from all the pores of the observatory. Tass takes the form of silver dollars that can be seen observing the night sky and that can simply be plucked out of thin air.

Love the greenhouse idea.  Also like the "secret history of the house" angle.



Yep, that part I get, but if you cast for free, why bother with the extension - protection while you sleep?

I'm down with the Greenhouse too!

As for the mage armor thing, I think it's more of a medium so that you can cast it and not think about it again for the rest of the day. Also, if you're gnosis 3 you can combine it with another spell which will reduce your dice pool, so you can use the mana to avoid having to worry about casting with an extended duration. I'm sure it's not always useful, but there's some nuance to mage about when and how to cast spells. I think we need to have an IC and/or OOC conversation about how we're doing spells as a Cabal, and how our Arcana compliment each other. I'd rather spend a few hours in the morning casting Organic Resilience on the entire Cabal than have us all at a lower armor rating, for example.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 87):

My take on Chiron is that while it wouldn't occur to him to do that (he's not much for coherent planning), he'd be quite enthusiastic about helping out with it.  Although, after a week or so, once the shine wore off, he'd likely need to be reminded ;)  Can probably add both a version of OR, and the Spirit equivalent.

I like the greenhouse too, that seems fun.  Arwen would have commandeered a small piece of it to grow basil plants.  :)  I definitely veto the slave barracks.

Re: routine spells - Arwen definitely doesn't have "a few hours" every morning to spend on magical wards, she's got a job she goes to!  :)  Observant roommates may have noticed that she's not in the house during weekday office hours (sometimes rather long office hours), that she leaves every morning looking very professional, and somewhere in the house is displayed a diploma from Georgetown law school class of 2020 in the name of "Jillian Catherine Stone."  At this point in her life, Arwen (Jill) doesn't think of herself as a mage who happens to have passed the bar, she thinks of herself as a lawyer who happens to be able to do some magic on the side.

Thanks for the suggestions Link! It seems like there's a general consensus around the greenhouse idea.

By the way, doing an Oblation doesn't ALWAYS require a Hallow. I believe at least 4 of you have Legacies, and doing Legacy Oblations does NOT require one.

Still good to figure out the Hallow fluff and all that jazz, but just wanted to remind folks of that as well :)

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 90):

Chiron might want a bit of the basement.  To grow mushrooms.  Entirely legal, not at all psychoactive, mushrooms.  They're . . . organic.  He has a lot of free time to spend on his mushrooms.

... if Chiron gets caught dealing drugs out of the house there's going to be strong words.  :D

Also just FYI, starting in a few hours from now I'll be traveling this weekend and may be slow to respond.  Back to my normal schedule on Monday though, so I shouldn't get too far behind!

Thanks for the heads up, and best of luck on your travels! :)

Also, looks like I didn't actually respond to @Link's question re: Wards yet.

There are no wards on the Sanctum at the moment, since no one has bothered to cast that spell or set them up somehow. The Sanctum Security dots represent more mundane ways of securing the place (e.g. it is well hidden, has a security system, reinforced doors, etc.) rather than magical means of protection.

Okay, then could you please walk me through extended spells?

We'll probably all want to cast one or two of these (like wards, mage armor, body control) that last for a month.

We have a Thyrsus who can physically support the ritualist and a mastigos who can mentally support the ritualist, so theoretically, so - depending on gnosis, we can get a lot of extended casting done.

Do you want to houserule a limit, like a ritual casting cannot exceed a number of rolls greater than (gnosis? the highest Arcanum? Wisdom?), or 24 hours?

Wards without houserules - an example:
(unless I got it wrong)

Basic success
Potency 5: +4 successes
Advanced Size: 64 yard radius +3 sucesses
Advanced Duration: month: +4 successes

12 successes

Duration per round of ritual casting: 1 hour
dice pool (high speech included): 9 (yielding an average of about 3 successes/hour)
-->4 hours per month
-->8 hours lead to an additional ward strength of about +12 (total: +17)


Potential problem: Ban
It doesn't say that the mage casting the ward and the ban have to be identical. So you could simply suffocate a warded mage by casting an air ward on them (if it is a personal ward) or on their house (suffocating them in their sleep).

I don't usually play Mastigos, so this is my first time looking at wards more closely. I suggest limiting the potency of extended spells to gnosis or the highest arcanum used.

How does that work, mechanically?

I think we should take a sec to actually share here what Arcana we have at our Disposal to make these discussions a little bit easier.

Mamanu is an:

Adept of Life (Life 4)
Disciple of Time (Life 3)
Apprentice of Fate (Fate 2)
Initiate of Prime (Prime 1)

I'm an Acanthus, but Life is a Primary Arcanum for me, and the one that I'm most skilled in. For rotes I know:

Swift as Death [Acceleration]
Bones of Steel [Organic Resilience]
Organic Perception [Pulse of the Living World]
Balm of Flesh [Healing Heart]
Fullfillment [Supreme Honing]

@Link: Something else you can do is add Atlantean runes to the casting of ward, which gives you a bonus to duration for the ward. Downside is if the physical runes are disturbed, the warding will fail.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 97):

Chiron knows:

Life: 3
Prime: 2
Space: 2
Spirit: 3


Rotes
Finder (Space 1, Intelligence + Investigation + Space, p233)
Healing Heart (Life 3, Composure + Medicine  + Life, p186)
Organic Resilience (Life 2, Stamina + Athletics  + Life, p183) * - (this is the one I was going to drop to pick up 4xp to pool, don't know if ST used that or not)
Counterspell Prime (Prime 2, Composure + Occult + Prime, p222)
Rouse Spirit (Spirit 3, Presence + Pursuasion + Spirit, p251)
Spirit Road (Spirit 3, Resolve + Survival + Spirit, p261)
Transform Self (Life 3, Stamina + Athletics + Life, p187)
Lesser Spirit Summons (Spirit 2, Intelligence + Pursuasion + Spirit, p247)
Supernal Vision (Prime 1, Wits + Occult + Prime, p221)

Arcana
Death 3
Matter 3
Prime 1
Time 1

Rotes
Forensic Gaze (Death 1)
Speak With the Dead (Death 1)
Corpse Mask (Death 2)
Ghost Summons (Death 2)
Suppress Aura (Death 2)
Suppress Own Life (Death 3)
Detect Substance (Matter 1)
Find the Hidden Hoard (Matter 1)
Steel Windows (Matter 2)
Unseen Aegis (Matter 2)
Transmute Earth (Matter 3)
Dispel Magic (Prime 1)
Supernal Vision (Prime 1)
Momentary Flux (Time 1)

Okay, so...  Arwen is definitely not that awesome a mage, certainly not as compared with the rest of the group.  :)  She hasn't really been a part of "mainstream" mage culture to this point, and she's mostly used her magic as a way to absolutely ace her way though law school.  So her Arcana aren't particularly well-developed.  She might be the only one with Mind Arcana though?  (Unless Link has some?)

Forces: 1
Life: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 2

Ritual castings can take HOURS at a time. Casting things like body control on the ritualist, or honing the form to improve their stamina will allow them to go ritually cast for longer periods of time without getting tired, needing to eat, etc.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 101):

Gotcha, thanks.  That, I'm pretty sure Chiron can do.

On the subject of Mushrooms, I'm working on the assumption that the reason most don't have day jobs (aside from we play these games to not have to deal with that stuff ;) ), is they can basically break the rules with magic.  So, assuming that Chiron respects Arwen's desire NOT to bunk with the king of the psychadelics, there's really nothing stopping him from, say, buying a bunch of button mushrooms, magicking them into truffles, and selling them to high-end stores, yeah?  I mean, vulger magic, but as long as no one sees, he's good?

EDIT -- got my math all mixed up, so fixed that below.



Something to consider is that the mansion itself is rather big, so you would need to have multiple Wards to cover the whole place. If you go up 1 more success into a radius to 256 yards, you probably can cover the whole mansion itself and avoid needing extra wards, but it would require 4 successes towards the radius.

It might actually be easier to Ward the cabal mates too. You'd only need +2 successes to increase # of targets by 4, so Warding yourself and the Cabal would require less successes than trying to go for the whole estate or the mansion itself.

As far as limiting potency, I'm leaning more towards limiting the total amount of successes you can distribute among spell factors on an extended casting to be equal to your total dice pool for casting the spell--including things like high speech and what not.

So say, in your case -- Gnosis 3 + Space 3 + 2 from HS will give you a cap of 8 successes to distribute. You could do something like:

Warding yourself + cabal for 1 week at a potency 4 (+2 successes for targets, +3 for duration, +3 for potency).

Noted about Bans. I'll think about that a bit. Although, if you don't release the Ward spell from your control, I'd likely rule that another mage could not cast a Ban on the Ward still under your control.



You will still need to roll for Paradox when casting Vulgar magic. Probably also wise to do it away from the eyes of any Guardians :)

If there's a big concern about Paradox, there's always the idea of creating a Demesne at some point. It requires you to create a Soul Stone, which is also a Wisdom sin and it would cost a Willpower Dot and permanently lowers the cap of your Gnosis by 1, but it creates a space in which Vulgar magic is covert, plus some other effects based on your Path Arcana.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:11, Fri 04 Feb 2022.

Space 3
Mind 3
Matter 2
Forces 2

Influence Sound (Forces 1)
Scrying (Space 2)
Incognito Presence (Mind 2)
Augment the Mind (Mind 3)

From legacy:
Meddling with transmisisons

With the Arcanum we have, If we want everyone to have a +4 Armor, best bet is it for me to ritually cast it on everyone. I can't realiably use hone another form at an extended level, but I don't think we need to get too crazy with buffs.

Body control is another spell I'm happy to cast on the group as a whole, which grants initiative bonuses and requires us to have to eat less. Ultimately it's gonna come down to what buffs everyone wants, what you're willing to allow to linger on your pattern, and how much spell tolerance you have.

I like the idea of teamworking like that, and everyone needs mage armor, but wasn't there some limit on the amount of spells and some way of combining spells to get more out of it?

As for the wards:
Do we prefer personal wards (+ wherever we are, - our stuff like journals isn't warded), or an area ward (which only helps at home, but also reduces the risk of nighttime teleporting attacks)

If we do the home wards, we might want to keep some of our property unwarded, like a landing pad?

found it, p. 128:

Stamina determines spell tolerance.

I guess, we are better off with a ward cast on the house then:

Stamina 2:
-mage armor (in combination with body control?)
-one situaltional spell
Stamina 3: plus one

Yes! No widening the Abyss except in extreme emergencies, okay? :p

Okay, so this is where I get confused.  "Hone another", and a fair number of the armour spells I've looked at, are vulgar.  So, how are we casting them on a regular basis without facing the consequences you guys have identified?

Life 3's Organic Shield and Body control are both covert, and those are the casts I'm suggesting. I don't really see a reason to use Hone Another's Form on the whole Cabal, especially because it's Vulgar, and I think most everyone will get more use out of other buff spells.

I'm a bit torn.

It makes absolute sense to get those wards up asap, but on the other hand, I don't want to miss all the fun for the next couple of months of game time because my character is caught up in a time-consuming activity.

Any idea how I can get out of this dilemma?

In reply to Link (msg # 111):


The life mages set you up so you don't need to sleep, and can do them at night?  We wait on the wards until we have the initial story seeds sorted?  We prioritize some wards rather than others?

I don't know enough about the mechanics to be able to figure out how that chunk of time would be broken up, but  . . . how likely is it that anyone is going to do nothing but sit in their house and put up wards?  Covid and working from home jokes aside, I mean.

We also need to explore and learn about the estate.  It belonged to a mage.  It probably has secrets and layers of protection we don't know about?

I just wouldn't worry about the Wards right now. Wait until you have the Rote. I kinda look at wards like I look at cyber-security. Anyone dedicated to overcoming magical defenses such as wards are gonna be able to do so vs. a non-specialist. Putting up a low potency ward will stop low-level mages (who already have to have a sympathetic connection to the Estate), but not anyone who's specialized in Space. Not every mage is going to have space.

With the amount of crazy things you can do in Awakening, it's easy to get paranoid about getting killed in your sleep, but let's consider that our estate survived the war very likely because it was kept secret and hidden from the enemy. If we do the work to make sure that we keep our sympathetic connections (hair, blood, personal effects, etc.) from falling into the hands of our enemies, the secrecy of our haven alone will be enough to prevent space-based incursions.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 113):


Along with more "active" defenses.  Best defense is to know who's after you, what they want, and how they're going to hit you - and fun story hooks about magical baddies in the neighborhood mean a) us finding out who might be after us, and b) a chance to remove that threat before it gets around to doing something about us.

It looks like 2 separate threads are forming. I'll be waiting on Arwen to post before moving things forward. I wanna give her a chance to pick which group she might go with, or if she's planning on doing something else altogether.

Remember you can send your Oblations to me if you'd like a chance for extra mana in your threads for the month. A couple of you have already done so, and it was a pleasure to read your short stories. I'll be collecting these and posting them on a single thread that will serve as a collection of these brief glimpses into your characters' lives outside of the threads you are actively RPing them in.

Thx much, back at my desk and my normal schedule now!  :)

Welcome back!

I'll go ahead and split the group into 3 for now. Let me know if you've got any questions in the meantime.

@Link @Acciaio

Don't wait on me to post in order to continue, since y'all haven't approached the guy yet, didn't make much sense for me to make another post to that thread at this time. That will of course change once you decide to interact with the NPC :)

Yeah, I figured, but one post a day is my comfortable marching pace. :)

A post a day keeps the storyteller away

In reply to Link (msg # 120):

So, am I correct that "ghosts" and "spirits" are two distinct things, and so that spells etc. that let one see the latter won't do the same for the former?  Or is there a degree of overlap?

In reply to Chiron (msg # 121):

Ghosts and Spirits are two different things.

Ghosts are afterimages of the dead that exist in Twilight. Twilight is largely a function of the mind (It's where you go when you astral project). But it's also associated with ghosts, the dead, and memory.

Spirits are native to the Shadow, but can exist in Twilight as well.

Spirit Tongue (Spirit 1), Let's you see and speak to spirits in Twilight. It also allows you to see the hazy outline of ghosts in Twilight, but not get a clear look or be able to communicate with them without adding Death 1 to the casting. The opposite is true for Death 1's Speak with the Dead.

Peer across the Gauntlet lets you peer across the Gauntlet (the barrier between the Physical world and the Shadow) to see spirits in their native world, the shadow. The shadow is a mystical (and unusual) reflection of the material world.

What he said ^^^

Everybody busy watching sportsball today or something?  ;)

In reply to Arwen (msg # 124):

Nope.

In reply to Arwen (msg # 124):

Not really my thing. ;)

Nope, I don't live in the colonies.

Negative on my end. Was just a busy weekend for me!

I'll be getting caught up and making some posts today though :)

Would my character see if she had a spell on her?

In reply to Link (msg # 129):

Since she does have a mage sight up, she should be able scrutinize herself (by making an Intelligence + Occult roll) to detect any active spell effects on her pattern. Per our house-rules, any given character can attempt a # of scrutiny rolls on the same target in a scene/thread equal to their Gnosis. So in your case, you could roll Intelligence + Occult as an extended action up to 4 times in order to accrue successes in the scrutiny attempt, and each success will allow you to determine different things about the spell. I think most relevant in your case will be whether one of the spells on her pattern came from someone else ;-)

Sorry for the delays in posting guys...work's been a bit busy. Will try to get to posting later today or sometime tomorrow!

I am patience, I am zen.

posting tomorrow, grading marathon

In reply to Link (msg # 133):

I hear that.

Can Mental shield be cast after being the effect of a mind spell to allow for a new chance to fight it or does that require dispel (prime 1)?

In reply to Link (msg # 135):

If you were to cast Mental Shield after being affected by a spell, it would help defend against any further attempts to mess with your mind, but in order to dispel an active effect you would need to use the Prime 1 Dispel spell in conjunction with the arcanum for the spell you'd like to dispel (in your case casting Dispel while having at least 1 dot of Mind), or you can also use Prime 4 Supernal Dispellation.



That last bit means that you could've cast Mental Shield as a Reflexive Action in response to me asking for a Gnosis + Composure roll, especially since your Unseen Senses and having Third Eye active would've alerted you to the fact that some sort of spell effect was incoming.

Well it's too late for could have. But nice to know for next time.

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give folks a heads up that I'll be going on vacation next week, starting on February 23rd and coming back home late on March 1st. My fiancée and I are going to Disney World, so I'll be pretty much MIA the whole time I'm there.

I'll still be posting in the coming days up until I gotta leave home for the airport, but just wanted to let folks know that there will be some interruptions/delays while I'm away.

UNACCEPTABLE.  Obviously gaming is way more important than real life.  :)

(Have fun at Disney!)

Have fun, but be sure to pick the game right back up when you get back. I have a good feeling about this one. ;)

Ditto that  :)

In reply to Arwen (msg # 141):


Say hi to the mouse.

Thanks guys! I don't have any plans to drop this game at all. Mage has always been one of my favorite genres and so far I've been enjoying the stories we are telling together. I'm gonna try to get a final round of posts done either today or tomorrow before I go, just been a bit hectic with my puppy getting sick, my fiancée's phone breaking and needing to find a replacement and all the packing and last minute details! Been absolute chaos...so looking forward to the vacation! But rest assured, I'll be coming back and ready to keep our story moving forward! :)

Hi guys!

Just poking my head in to say I'm back from my trip, but caught some sort of bug on the flight back. Fortunately it wasn't COVID (got tested yesterday) but I'm definitely out for the count at the moment. Very difficult to concentrate while taking all these cold/flu medications, but just wanted to give y'all an update and assure you I haven't forgotten about this game!

I'm hoping I'll be feeling better within the next 48 hours and then I can resume posting. Thanks for your patience and understanding! :)

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 144):

Feel better - hope you had fun on the trip!

O noes!  Vacationitis!  I hate that.  :(

Get better soonest, looking forward to getting underway again when you're able!

Feel better! :/

Thanks guys. I'm slowly recovering, but managed to get some posts out for folks :)

EDIT: Also, I've awarded everyone 10XP for the month of February. I will be handing out monthly XP awards, as well as XP awards tied to "reaching milestones" such as resolving specific story arcs, which will award more XP than the normal monthly amounts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:41, Mon 07 Mar 2022.

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 148):


Appreciated - both the xp and the posts!

Still not sure, how much magic I can use against Tony.

Is my character capable of acting against him?

In reply to Link (msg # 150):

Yes, you are fully capable of acting against him.

You just have a strong urge to feel like he's trustworthy ;-)
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:32, Tue 08 Mar 2022.

Prime is used for dispelling that, not mind

In reply to Link (msg # 152):

You need a dot of at least one Arcana used in the spell, though.

Yes, you can use Prime 1 plus (insert arcana used here) 1 to cast the Prime 1 Dispel version. Or if you have Prime 4, you just use Supernal Dispellation without needing additional arcana.

Ah, fascinating

Sorry for the delay guys...have not forgotten about y'all! This is just a busy work week for me and we have a 5+ hour virtual event that I'm helping organize/run today :\

I hope to resume some posting by tomorrow at least. Just wanted to keep you all in the loop so you don't think I've abandoned you! :D

@Acciaio -- I'm gonna wait a bit for Link to have a chance to post in your thread as well. They haven't been online for close to a week, so I just sent them some rMail to check in with them. I don't want them to fall too far behind on the thread, but also wanted to give you a heads up so you don't think I'm just ignoring your response :)

Yeah, no sweat. :)

Okay, so what's next? I guess I should go debrief with Laverna. I could also see myself doing some research in the library, to see if any previous DC mage has run into these 'beast-magic' types. And of course we could check if any of the others are doing something they need help with.

Do you (the player) truly have no idea what we are facing?

Ehhhhh, "beast-magic" makes me think about something on the Werewolf: the Forsaken side of things? But this setting is (intentionally) cluttery and full of weird bits and pieces, and I'm not very well versed in it.

I'm not going to spoiler!

@Acciaio, @Link

It's entirely up to you guys as how you'd like to proceed. If Acciaio wants to debrief with Laverna, I'm happy to run that follow up scene. It's up to you as to whether you bring Link along or want to handle that scene privately of course.

You can also go back to the Sanctum and do research if that's what you prefer, could wait around for some of the other members of the Cabal to return from their own scenes too.

Let me know what you'd like to do. I'm gonna go ahead and close out the other thread since it is now done.

Oh dear. Decisions. Ehhhhh... let's do the debrief. Link can come along if she wants - Acciaio hasn't gotten the feeling that these are any sort of internal Guardian business, more like a routine investigation.

Sounds good! I'll get that thread set up a bit later today and Link can join if they would like :)

Oh sure, let's meet the secret police.

... aaaaaaand I suddenly remembered that oh yeah, CoD does have something called "Beasts" who are born with their powers. I had successfully suppressed it from my memory, on account of every time I remember that that game exists my will to live drops drastically. D<

I'm not all that familiar with that one, although I've heard of it...but at least you don't have to worry about it being that since I don't even own that book xD

Your next thread is up!

That is a genuine relief. Just hearing BtP described to me traumatised me so badly that I have since written a 150,000-word game of my own on the premise of "modern-day mythological creatures in human form being persecuted by inept, neurotic would-be monster-hunters," just to get the bad taste out of my mouth. :p

Having that said, I am starting to feel that I'm coming across as very negative in this game. I always seem to be griping about something. :/ I'm really sorry about that - I don't mean to, and I'm not really this grouchy. Or, well - I am totally this grouchy, but usually I do a much better job of not showing it. ^_^; Anyway, I'll do my best to cheer up.

No worries Acciaio!

Also, since March is now over, I'll be awarding folks another 10XP. It will be added to the XP log section of your character sheets.

If any of you want to spend some of the XP you've earned so far, feel free to PM me with what you've got in mind, but make sure you have some good IC justifications for it too! :)

There’s a new thread up for the two groups to meet back up at the Sanctum. Feel free to jump in and start roleplaying with each other, exchange any info you want, etc.

Arwen is still out on her own doing her thing, but she will join in once she’s finished with her own investigation.

Just a heads up to all of you. I'll be out of town 4/13-4/17 and unable to post during that time. Feel free to keep roleplaying amongst each other in the current scene of course, but I'll refrain from starting up some new threads for folks to chase after more plot until I return so things don't just stall while I'm away! :)

Sorry for the silence guys! I got back from my trip, but much later than expected due to some unforseen circumstances, and I've been drowning in work the last 24-48 hours. In any case, I'll get things back up and running shortly.

Looks like Acciaio is gonna go to the scene of the murder, along with Mamanu and possibly Chiron again?

Link is working on setting up the Wards? Do I have that right?

I thought this might be a good moment.

a) I can join Arwen when she comes back.
b) I have a busy 14 or so days ahead, so doing something low key may be a good idea.
c) We can time it so that a suitable amount of time has passed.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Tue 19 Apr 2022.

That sounds like a sensible plan to me. I hope you'll be busy in the good sense--e.g. going on holiday or something!

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 175):


If Mamanu wants company, Chiron's happy to come along.

Yep. I'ma gonna get my forensics on, and probably fail dismally at it. 8)

I'd like to do a little research on this death cult before we go back in the field, though. Having insight into the motives of whoever we're dealing with might help us figure out when and how they'll strike next.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 178):

For sure we need to look into the mask and knife combo - see if it's associated with anything specific.

I can help out with research as well.

The question is - is our library equipped for such research, or do we need to go somewhere else? I know one of our topics is dead languages, so we might get a translation of the cult name, but that's different from it's history and origins.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 181):

If we don't have the resources, we could try the university?  Chiron has some contacts there.

Whatever you guys choose to do is fine with me. If the whole group is just going to be hitting the books, we might find a way to do those rolls without having to run a whole scene in which you guys spend hours reading over books!

I feel like that wouldn't be too compelling...LOL

In any case, let me know how you all would like to proceed of course. It seems I unfortunately caught something on my flight...once again...so I'm slowly recovering from that while trying to stay afloat at work >.<

STOP GETTING SICK ON PLANES!!!

I mean, I don't actively go on planes in hopes of getting sick? lol

I'm happy to just do my rolls and move onto continuing with more of the story - I don't want to spend a lot of time scenery chewing on doing research.

I'm fine with however you guys want to handle that part. It is true that we don't need an entire scene of you guys just making extended research rolls :)

Just tell me what to roll, and I'm good. :)

Depends on what you are researching. If you are looking into the beast magic thing, you would be making an Intelligence + Occult roll. You can do research rolls as extended actions, but just remember the limitations of extended actions per scene that can be found in the house rules thread :)

Beast-magic, yes. :)

06:18, Today: Acciaio rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,3,7,7,3,3,2.  Intelligence + Occult.

I have replied via PM. I'm not sure whether the plan is still to go somewhere or not, totally up to you guys how you wish to proceed. I'm happy to run a scene with all 3 of you headed to the library at the university, or we can skip ahead some if folks are just interested in doing their research rolls and then skipping further ahead.

Any extended research rolls would take time while characters hit the books, but there isn't really much RP involved in just spending hours reading anyway. So I'm content with narrating some of it/fast-forwarding past some of that.

Just let me know however you guys want to handle all that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:41, Fri 29 Apr 2022.

I need to go say thanks to my guy while we're there, so if y'all want to handle it via OOC roles, can we set up a pm thread for that meeting please?

Yes, if you want to have a private scene with Aeon to report on Mysterium stuff and what not, I'd be happy to run that for you as well. I was just trying to get a sense for what folks wanted to do and how they'd like to handle it.

If I'm reading this right, you want for Chiron to have that as a one-on-one thing, while Mamanu and Acciaio are busy researching things at the library, correct?

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 193):

Initially.  Having Mamanu there might be helpful or necessessary, but based on what I know about the Mysterymen, might be better to start solo, and then bring Mamanu in if he's willing and it's feasible.

Up to you of course. Reporting in shouldn't be that much of an issue, unless you were planning on spouting off Order secrets during the meeting ;-)

I'm fine with whatever. :)

So for the Academics rolls regarding the cult...

It's going to be difficult and I suggest we do a teamwork action for it.

For this, we need to determine:

Who the lead actor is (Should be the person with the highest dice pool)
AND
Who is assisting

It's an Intelligence + Academics roll, and Mamanu's dice pool for that is+4. I can employ magic (on myself only) to get 9 again's as well.

I've got an exceedingly modest 4 dice. ^_^;

In reply to Acciaio (msg # 198):

4 dice from me.  Mamanu, if you want to come meet a guy, we can do a thread.  Acciaio, if you want to come along too, i imagine that could work.

I'll meet your guy and debrief him on the situation from the Arrow perspective.

As for doing the rolls...

Since we're all at 4 dice, the SIMPLEST thing to do was to let me lead and fate magic it up a bunch.

It'll be my 4 dice, + Circumstance bonus base, with the following buffs.

Perfect Timing: Give a die bonus to the very first roll of the extended action.
Exceptional Luck: 9-Agains
Probably something like winds of Chance to help speed the process along somehow (but how that works is up to the ST)

@CHIRON - Spirit is extremely flexible and by doing things like awakening and bargaining with spirits that can be found within a library, you can get bonuses, or maybe direct information, but that would ABSOLUTELY require another scene, and the outcome become more than just pass/fail.

@Acciaio - based on what I know of your Arcana, I don't think there's much in the way of magic you can do to help here.

Not short of conjuring up the unquiet shades of dead librarians to help me. Which I admit feels a bit like overkill... 8)

Seriously, yeah, you do the roll.

You guys would have to do yours first though. Don't be afraid to spend some willpower on it.

Only hitch is Rouse Spirit is vulger.

Yeah, which is why my recommendation is to just do the Teamwork rolls and let me lead the overall investigation.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 204):


Which I'm good with.  In actual rp scenes, Chiron can attempt a "softer" version that attracts spirits that exist - more or less what he did at the murder scene.

Cool. Teamwork rolls work by the supporters doing their rolls first, and the main actor gets a bonus to their rolls equal to the supporters successes. So whenever you guys get the chance, go ahead and make and post your rolls and Mamanu will then do his thing.

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 206):

Nada.  12:47, Today: Chiron failed (no successes) using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((7,2,6,7)).

In reply to Chiron (msg # 207):

You can roll up to 3 more times. Also, you can use willpower on these rolls!

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 208):

Multiple rolls because extended action?

5, then 2, then 1 success:


13:03, Today: Chiron rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 5,9,5,2.

13:03, Today: Chiron rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+7),2,6,9.

13:03, Today: Chiron rolled 5 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+9),7,10(+2),10(+8).

Yep! Also, there's a +1 circumstance bonus, so an additional die per roll as well!

19:24, Today: Acciaio failed (no successes) using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,7,6,5.  Intelligence+Academics.

19:24, Today: Acciaio rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 4,10(+5),6,1.  Intelligence+Academics.

19:24, Today: Acciaio rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 9,4,1,5.  Intelligence+Academics.

19:24, Today: Acciaio rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 9,3,3,8.  Intelligence+Academics.

I am very slightly helping! 8)

I thought I'd join up with Arwen after she finished her thread, but I've seen she hasn't posted in over a month.

Can we assume that their research and my setting up of wards takes roughly the same time? I know it's not how extened rolls usually work, but it would be convenient.

In reply to Link (msg # 212):

That works for me.

Lots of rolls below the break, but here's the summary.

Succeeded at a Shifting the Odds spell to gain a lead on the cult.
Succeeded at both the Exceptional Luck and Perfect moment spells (3 9 agains, and +7 to the first roll in the research).

A total of 19 suxx after 4 rolls.

SOOO MUCH! But I think we got it.

---

13:56, Today: Mamanu rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,8,2,2,7,8,2,7,8.  Extended Research 4.

13:56, Today: Mamanu rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 7,8,5,4,4,5,10(+1),2.  Extended Research 3.

13:55, Today: Mamanu rolled 4 successes using 11d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 8,2,1,2,1,8,5,5,9(+4),1,9(+7).  Extended Research 2.

13:54, Today: Mamanu rolled 9 successes using 12d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 10(+7),9(+5),6,9(+9,7),4,10(+9,10,8),3,2,2,10(+1),5,1.  Int + Academics + Circumstance + Perfect Timing.

13:52, Today: Mamanu rolled 7 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 10(+10,3),8,2,4,6,5,2,5,9(+10,10,8).  Perfect Timing + WP (Gnosis + Time + WP) w/Exceptional luck.

13:51, Today: Mamanu rolled 3 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,2,10(+1),8,2,3,5,8.  Exceptional Luck (Gnosis + Fate + WP).

13:47, Today: Mamanu rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 9,10(+4),8,6,2.  Shifting the Odds: Gnosis 3 + Fate 2.

13:40, Today: Mamanu rolled 1 success using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  Circumstance bonus for teamwork rolls (Chiron, Acciaio).

Cool, so I'll just post the research results here and then I'll open up a new thread in the library for you guys to RP after concluding your research and Chiron can go meet with his guy, and take you guys along for the ride if he wants as well :)

Just a heads up that April XP awards have been added to your sheets. As usual, if you want to spend some XP, feel free to PM me with what you intend to spend XP on and any appropriate IC justifications for the expenditure :)

13:48, Today: Link rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  ward 7 dice + 2 HS.

That would be 1 hour of warding, not sure how many rolls I should make.

Good news: Slowly coming back to normal speed. Hopefully will be at normal speed by next week.

So you would be making an extended roll for this casting, so you can make a total number of rolls equal to your dice pool, including high speech. So it looks like a total of 9 rolls? As a reminder, I did implement the following house rule about successes on extended spellcasting rolls, so good to keep it in mind:

Cap on Successes on an Extended Casting
The total amount of successes you can distribute among spell factors on an extended casting is capped by and equal to your total dice pool for casting the spell--including things like high speech and other dice bonuses.

15:10, Today: Link rolled 3 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  3rd hour.

15:10, Today: Link rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  2nd hour.

13:48, Today: Link rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  ward 7 dice + 2 HS.

So it would take her a total of three hours to maximally ward the place (9 successes?)

I'll try to writen ic post about it tonight or tomorrow morning.

Sounds good! And make sure to indicate how many of the 9 successes you are assigning to any relevant spell factors (e.g. duration, potency, area, etc.)

Hey guys!

So as you all have probably noticed, Arwen's player has gone MIA for over a month now--last post was on 3/20 and last time online on 4/1. I've tried to reach out to them via PMs and rMail and have not gotten any response since my last interaction with them. I think its safe to assume that they will not be returning to the game. I hope they are doing okay IRL of course, but the game has to carry on.

Given the cabal's history and that the sanctum is literally the estate that used to belong to Arwen's late uncle, I've felt like that PC has become somewhat integral to some part of our story. So, rather than just inviting someone to come in and make an entirely new PC, I've found a player that is willing to take on the mantle and adopt Arwen as their PC.

This new player will be joining soon, but I wanted to give you all a heads up so you are aware of the change. If you've got any questions or concerns, feel free to voice them here or send me a PM if you are more comfortable doing it that way.

Thanks :)

No problem here. :)

Sorry about the delay guys! Was away for the weekend, so just getting caught up now :)

@Acciaio, @Chiron, @Mamanu

It looks like we can wrap up the current scene with Aeon. Mamanu is gonna end up spending like 4 hours there learning the rotes from that grimoire. So he'll be done with that by the early evening of the same day (probably around 8ish PM).

After that, am I to assume correctly that the three of you will return to the crime scene to investigate further? It looks like those are the next steps, but just double checking before I close current scene and open up a new one.

That sounds good to me! Do we need to do more Mana scenese, etc.?

In reply to Mamanu (msg # 225):

Works for me also.

Yep, that's the plan. :)

@Chiron, @Mamanu

I'll post to respond to Acciaio's investigative actions, but do want to give the both of you a chance to post first as you arrive on scene and let me know if there's anything the two of you are doing while Acciaio looks around, since that will take him a bit of time anyway.

@Acciao, @Mamanu -- giving Chiron a chance to respond, since I gave each of you a bit of info to react to in the scene. If he doesn't get a chance to reply by this evening, I'll continue to move the scene forward and he can catch up once he's back :)

Just FYI -- since today is last day of May, I've gone ahead and added the May XP rewards to everyone's sheet. As usual, if you want to spend some XP, do let me know via a PM :)

In case anyone's waiting on me to post, I'm actually waiting on Chiron to respond since right now it looks like there's 2 leads for the group to potentially go after. I don't have anything to add since y'all just need to RP that out and figure out what your next steps are :)

@Chiron -- yes, I do need you to roll. The spell gives you no control or sway over the spirit, it just calls it to you. So if you are trying to convince the spirit to give info or do something else other than what it wants to do--which at the moment is being left alone to feed in peace--you will need to make a contested/resisted roll against it. So you can either do a Presence + Persuasion roll or a Presence + Intimidation, depending on how Chiron is approaching the situation and what sort of tone they are using with the spirit.

Please do edit your post accordingly to reflect this and the dice roll. I will reply accordingly!

Also, did you leave out Acciaio of the casting on purpose??? Just checking in case that was an honest mistake or do on purpose IC. If it was done on purpose, no worries, but just wanted to make sure you as a player understood that Acciaio also has no way of communicating or hearing the spirit, and can only see a hazy outline of it in Twilight. If it was an honest mistake, feel free to edit the post to reflect that as well.

Thanks!

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 232):

Was under the impression that Acciaio could see.  Don't know if the spell roll is sufficient to cover him as well.  If not, I can attempt another cast.

No need. If you meant to include him, it’s all good. You can just edit your post and add the social roll for the spirit.

Okay, so do we dismiss the spirit now?

I was waiting on Chiron to see whether he was going to try anything else with the spirit or not.

@Chiron -- you still with us?

In reply to Storyteller (msg # 236):

Gang - so sorry, life got really interesting for a bit there, and I kind of checked out.  Should have written to give a heads up, but didn't - just didn't have the juice.  I'm going to have to drop - it's not the game at all, I've enjoyed it immensely, and appreciate the opportunity to try these rules.  I'm just really over-extended right now, and don't have the bandwith for online RP.  Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.

Well, that sucks. :( Do we still continue with the remaining players?

It does suck. Right now we only have 2 players remaining that are currently active, so it does complicate things a decent bit. I don't necessarily want to shut down the game, but I think I may need to pause things for right now and reconsider how to best move forward.

Once Link is able to come back, and Arwen's new player is settled in (they recently moved IRL and started a new job) and able to play again, I think it would make sense to pick things back up and try to recruit someone new to take over Chiron.

Is this game officially dead?