Edgecrusher

Back again!!!!!

What more should I say?

Arete is very important, so having a good rating is a good idea. I will not allow you to start with a rating higher than 4, as your Arete level limits your sphere levels. You can not have spheres higher than your arete rating. Therefore; no Master Magi in this game!

Another very important part of a Mage is his Avatar, his inner magical self. The Avatar is the "being" from which the mage gains his powers, and is sort of a spiritual and magical mentor. The Avatar also gives the Mage the ability to use Quintessence and to regain magical power.

Not all Mages have Avatars, so this is something you have to fix during character generation. (Don`t worry. I will give you avatars)

Gotta go again, but I will start explaining the step-by-step character generation next time I post.

I`m back again now. Sorry if I have been unavailable for so long, but I`ve had much to do the last week.

Christmas, you know...

But now I`m here again, at least today.

As for the game, I think I should explain to you exactly what a Mage is.

A Mage is basically a normal human being with the ability to bend, change and create reality by sheer force of will and belief. Mages are often referred to as The Awakened, and normal humans are often known as Sleepers. This is because they haven`t seen the world and reality for what it really is. Sort of caught inside a dream. Actually kind of Matrix-like in some ways.

Mages work their Magic most commonly through a Focus. This is some form of object, ritual, action etc which channels Magic to its use.

Even though a Mage`s powers aren`t infinite, they are infinitely diverse. There aren`t actually any limits to what a mage can do, they aren`t bound to any particular powers or spells. There are of course some powers which are used by many mages, and which are recorded as "spells".

The mage, however, can also devise his own spell-effects as he wishes them.

All magic draws its power from "the one force" called Quintessence (It is kind of a fifth element from which everything is created), and all magic is divided into nine Spheres of magic. In game mechanics, a mage will have a rating in spheres ranging from one to five,with five being the best.

The powers of a Mage is limited by his mastery of the Spheres.

For example, a Mage could change an apple into gold with an effect requiring the spheres of Life (to affect the apple, a living thing) and Matter (for the gold, a material substance). A rating of approx 3 in each sphere is required.

The Spheres are the following:

Correspondence (powers of distances, for ex. Teleportation, enhanced senses)

Entropy ( magic of luck, randomness and chaos)

Life (the force of all living things)

Spirit (The sphere of all things in the spirit world, ghosts etc)

Forces ( sphere of all the forces such as fire, lightning and gravity)

Mind ( magic dealing with the mind. Mind control, read mind, induce madness etc)

Prime ( control over the Prime force from which everything is made; Quintessence)

Matter (all material stuff.)

Time ( control and understanding of time. Stop time, time travel, time sense etc)

The first level of a Sphere only means a heightened understanding and sense of the sphere in question. Most of the time, a rating of at least 2 is required to actually work significant magic.

In game mechanics, all the player does is announce what he want`s to do, and then the GM decides which spheres and what ratings are required. The difficulty of the effect is then announced by the GM, and the roll is made.

The roll is made in the same way as all rolls in WW games. A number of d10s  equal to the combined rating of Skill+Attribute (or other form of stat) versus a difficulty between 2 and 9. Each die ending up equal to or higher than the difficulty is counted as one success. A task could require anything from one to 30++ successes, depending on the magnitude and difficulty of the task.

When a spell is being cast, the roll is the rating of the Mage`s Arete, his magical understanding and personal magical power. Arete is rated from 1-10, and is the most important trait of a mage.

Ooops, I gotta go now. Much to do, but I will write more later. Just hang on there...

Short translation of previous post:

I loved LoTR...

The only thing I have to comment was the small degree of rewriting of the story. And of course the "Hollywoodism" which was present some times.

Still, I really loved it!

I`ll watch it again and again.

And again.

Gah... Drool drool...

Me speechless...

Amazing...

Wonderful...

Sauron= cool...

Drool some more...

see it again tomorrow...

And then again...

And again...

Read book for the fourth time...

Worship tolkien...

Drool some more...

The system will be a pure White Wolf system, but the setting will be CP 2020.

I have made up a nfew rules about cyberware for the WW system, so I guess I`ll post them later.

As for you GM 2023, We`re talking about an online game Cyberpunk/Mage: The Ascension crossover.

Please feel free to post questions, ideas, answers etc here.

I`ll be around as much as possible to help and probably post some more info on the game.

Now, a bit about the game itself.

It is open for four to five players, possibly six.

You will all be playing Mages (or human followers if you wish)

and you should play Tradition Mages (not Tecnocrats that is)

It is recommended that characters have concepts which are not too munchkin.

The mages will be members of the same Chantry (haven or refuge for mages) and the story will take place in some large US city (not exactly sure yet. Please give me your opinion)

The game will hopefully not include too much combat, so combat skills should not be prioritized.

Mental and social attributes are important, as conversation and puzzles will fill out a large part of the story.

For those who are familiar with Mage: The Ascension, character generation will be as follows:

Attributes: 16 dots

Abilities: 30 dots

Backgrounds: 8 dots

Arete: 1

Willpower: 5

Spheres: 7 dots (one in primary sphere, so 6 to divide as you please)

Resonance: 1

Freebie points: 15

It is important that at least three of the characters have one or two in the Background Node, and it would be useful to have the Chantry Background as well.

For those who have not played Mage or any other World of Darkness games, please PM me.

If you have a complete character, please mail it to me in text format so I can take a closer look.

Galeivind@Hotmail.com

Feel free to ask questions and stuff like that on the Game Discussion Forum. I will not always be here to answer, but I`ll give it a try.

Ok, this is the first time I run an online game, so bear with me.

This game is supposed to be a CP 2020/ World of Darkness crossover with focus on Mage: The Ascension.

I have run several WoD tabletop games in the Cyberpunk future setting with great success, and I hope this game will be just as successful.

It would be easiest if players have previous experience with World of Darkness games and the system, as this is what we`re going to use.

So, a bit about the setting. The game will be run in the same Cyberpunk world all CP 2020 players are used to, but with a few modifications. First of all, in this world the supernatural exist. Second, the players will be running supernatural characters. Third, there is a new threat to all supernaturals: The Tecnocracy.

For those who have played Mage: The Ascension before, you all know who the Techno-guys are. For those who don`t know who they are: They are humanity`s self-appointed saviours through technology. They consider all supernatural to be a threat to their world vision, and threats to the Technocracy have a tendency to disappear or end up dead.

Consider them an extremely technologically advanced worldwide corporation running a hunt for all supernaturals.

The world as it is in 2020 is the result of the Technocracy`s failed world vision. Trying too hard to make everything their own way, the Technocrats got in too deep, and their entire world came crumbling down. The new rebellious lifestyle and Cyberpunk style of the 21st century became the primary concern of the Technocracy, and while they were busy, the Mages around the world saw their opportunity and restarted the ancient Ascension War (more on this later) against the Technos. Fighting on two fronts, the Technos prioritized to fight their ancient enemies the Mages, and while they once again defeated them, the battle for control over society was lost. A world out of control was the result, until several large corporations started taking charge.

Most of the story from here is well known; how the corps rose to power and the collapse of the US. (take a look through the timeline in the core CP 2020 book)

Now, the Technocracy has started to rise to power again, and their influence increases for each passing day. Still, they remain underground most of the time, often going undercover as some other corporation or government agency.

The Corps are in charge now, but it isn`t unlikely that the Technocracy has its long fingers buried deep in a couple of large corporations.

The Mages are hiding where they can, always trying to hinder or break the Technocrats. The Ascension War has fallen to consist of small hidden conflicts and tiny pockets of resistance. The Mages know they can`t destroy the Tecnocracy; they would be instantly crushed, instead they deploy hit-and-run tactics, infiltration and espionage, always trying to weaken the Technocracys iron grip on society.

There are other supernatural races around, and some have allied with the Mages. Others have gone solo and now stick to themselves. Some join or create small groups of supernaturals and stick together, working towards some common goal, but most just wish to rid the world of the power which hunts them night and day: The Tecnocracy...

Welcome to my world. You are the Mage

I have simply did the opposite. I have put White Wolf`s World of Darkness in a cyberpunk setting. It has had great success, and I think about starting up an online game sometime soon. If that is the case, I will drop off some more info later.

Yes, I think it is published by Janus games. They have published several supplements for cyberpunk 2020, and they are all about some horror stuff. I have one of them myself, a short story about vampires. It is made compatible with Night`s Edge. These stories are actually quite entertaining, though sometimes a bit too straightforward horror.

I like what has been done with this place.

Love those new smileys too...

Anyone here tried Feng Shui? it is the must be the wildest action roleplaying game ever. It is easy to learn, it gives a good laugh, and it is all 100% Hong Kong action Jackie Chan gaming!

You ever heard of "The Apocalypse Stone" campaign for AD&D? It is basically a large campaign with one purpose: To kill the player characters.

The reason is that TSR really want to have people play their new D&D 3.ed.

Gah, I hate it!!!!

(not that I`ve played it)

My first LARP was actually a 1960`s High School prom. I ended up breaking one of the geeks` glasses (he allowed me to do it) and beating up two other people (I played captain of the football team), was dumped by my girlfriend and was expelled from school with an "F" in every subject.

Talk about big time looser character.

It is always fun if some small thing goes wrong. Not much, but just some small thing which alarms the players and tells them that they have to concentrate, or else they`re sushi.

As I`ve stated before: Paranoia is good (if only in limited amounts) and making the players a bit more on edge can be very good.

A good idea is to describe every little sound they hear, every smell etc, even if i has no real effect in the game. It will make the players really on edge.

Computer controlled lighting? Got to get me one of those!!!!

I actually have a few lamps in my basement that don`t work properly. They have a tendency to switch on and off without warning, flash a bit, make some weird noises, flash once more, and repeat the whole routine over and over again. They give the feeling that you are in some kind of abandoned building or something. Kind of gives you that lost Half-Life feeling.

I used full floor plans (including ventilation ducts, power lines and outlets etc etc) for a covert-ops story. I think it really helped the players on their way in.

There is nothing like planning an operation if you have all the maps and most of the information.  You could actually use a whole game session just to plan the intrusion (or whatever you`re going to do). I usually have an entire session devoted to planning and preparing for these types of missions.

I already have a hat. I think I`ll rather buy a pair of sunglasses and watch the wall melt. Anyway, Morgan is most likely alleypaint.

(Oh, look. Someone have painted our backyard red. How thoughtful.)  

How did you make those ears. You see, I`m going to play an elf in an upcoming LARP, and I need some hints on how to make good pointy elf-ears.

Thanks. I have already done the interface plugs. I will try the torsoplating stuff and the grafted muscle.  

Paranoia good...

I like handing out screamsheets and things like that at the start of a story. It gives both a hint to the plot (or not, of course) and informs about events and things that have happened the last 24 hours or so. It can help set the general mood and setting.

Yeah, of course. If you don`t want him to die, the he survives. Maybe he pops up somewhere someday soon. (insert evil laughter here)

You could give us small LARPers who don`t have much experience (a year) some hints for creating stuff (like cyberware, costumes etc)

By the way, try searching at www.google.com for Maya4.0

You`ll find something, but I think a good deal of it is Japanese or Chinese. If you can translate that, go ahead.

you own that program???

20 000 bucks? That animated movie you`re going to make better be good.