On Legacies
In the scant few hours since the US Addendum was published, the response has been pretty significant. And certainly, the largest point of debate has been the new approval level on Legacies in the US. I have been monitoring the various LJ accounts where people have posted opinions and questions. I think it only fair that I make some kind of response to the various posts I’ve seen. So, here we go...
The decision to change the approval level on Legacies was first brought up by me and discussed at length with the various Mage ARSTs. I didn’t think it right to throw responsibility for those approvals on a group of people without at least giving them a chance to be heard, and to hear why I wanted to change the approval level. Everyone had differing opinions and reasons for their opinions. Everyone had a chance to voice their opinion and to explain the logic that led them to their conclusion. I read every email that came out, and gave it serious consideration. When it was all said and done though, the decision was made to raise the approval level on Legacies. While I can say that there was enough support from the ARSTs to merit my decision, ultimately the decision to change the approval level was mine and mine alone.
And maybe some people don’t know this, but at the end of the day even when I make a decision, it is not really a decision at all. As much as I might like to, I can’t just change approval levels on my own. Nothing goes into the US addendum without the NST’s approval, and the US addendum wasn’t published without review from Global. My “decisions” (at least in the case of approval levels) are all subject to review. Furthermore, at one point I brought the matter up to the various RSTs and the ANSTs, and they had their chance to disuade me from my opinion. At the end of the day though, the majority supported my decision - or at the very least didn’t have a solid opinion either way.
Now, I don’t remotely mean to suggest that I am putting the blame on the US NST, the various RSTs, or the MST staff for what appears in the US Addendum. I am firm believer in the fact that had I not made the request to the US NST to raise the approval level on Legacies, it likely would have stayed at Mid approval. *I* am the person who brought this topic up and the person who asked for this change. I won’t deny my role in the matter. All I am simply trying to illustrate is this was not a decision I made on a whim one day. I sought input from the people below me in the ST chain, the people above me in the ST chain, and even from people I don’t directly answer to. I’d like to believe this indicates, at least somewhat, that the decision was made after an extensive bit of deliberation and discussion on the topic.
And I’m sure you think to yourself “Okay, great. So you gave this some thought. You even sought a few outside opinions. But you still gave us a really illogical reason for why there are fewer Legacies in the US.” Well, while you might think that, I’d argue that there is no right or wrong answer here.
To be honest, when I submitted my first proposal for the language of the US addendum, I provided only mechanics and no “flavor text” or IC justification for the change in the approval level. All I put was something to the effect of “Non-Left Hand Legacies published in Awakening are all High Approval.” At a later time, a wise and learned ST counseled me to give players some a reason they could use in-character as to why the US potentially had fewer Legacies in play then others (and “fewer” will ultimately only mean *maybe* having fewer Legacies by percentage since I expect the massive player base in the US will mean the US has more characters in Legacies by numbers). After thinking about the advice given to me, I thought it was only right of me to provide that in-character justification. I had a variety of ideas on how I might justify in-character the change in approval levels, but ultimately I decided to go with the language you see contained in the US addendum as it currently stands. It was short, it was simple, and was something that could easily be undone in-game.
Maybe you like that reasoning. Maybe you don’t. Based on the majority of the responses I have seen, a few people think it is complete crap. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, what is important to remember here that these are matters of opinion. Opinions vary from person. And in a similar vein, occasionally so do the decisions storytellers make on issues of setting, theme, and mood. What the mood, theme, or setting of a Mage game is like in Los Angeles might be nothing like the setting, theme, or mood of a game in New York City. Mage is a game painted with broad brush strokes, and there is no one answer as to what any given Mage game’s setting, theme or mood should be. White Wolf has provided a guideline or a framework for storytellers to work in, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t judgement calls to be made along the way.
And again, maybe you ask yourself “Okay Justin, and?” Well, here it is: I made a judgement call as to what kind of setting I wanted to have in the US chronicle. My setting is premised on the idea of a smaller numbers (at least in terms of percentages) of the number of Legacies in play. And I know many people reading this don’t know me except for a signature at the bottom of a few emails and some LJ posts. Consequently, I suppose some people would be perfectly justified in thinking I am actually a monkey locked in a dark closet that has never seen the outside world and thus I have no concept of US or world history. And if that were true, I suppose that might call into question my ability to make a judgement call on this issue. However, this is not the case. I would like to think of myself as a reasonably intelligent and educated person - at least enough to say that I well aware of the fact that the Americas were populated before the arrival of the pilgrims, that the Native Americans have an extensive mystic tradition in the US, that at various points in US history millions of immigrants poured into the US from all over the globe bringing with them obscure knowledge and ancient cultural traditions, and a host of other facts that people like to quote to me as of late.
Still, despite my two decades of education, I am hard pressed to find any serious text books or reference materials used in the schools, colleges, or universities across the US that talk about the number of Legacies as defined by White Wolf. I might find a lot of books that deal with similar topics, but no text book out there is going to provide any one of us with concrete numbers on how many Legacies there should or should not be in the US. Attempting to recite US or world history (or any other area of knowledge premised on facts) to me as some method of proving that imaginary wizards who get three unique powers should be Mid as opposed to High approval is lost cause from the start.
There is no definitive answer that the US should have characters in a Legacy accounting for 25 percent or 50 percent or 75 percent of the total in-character population of the US chronicle. The percentage is thus a judgement call. And since that judgement call need not necessarily match the judgement call made in the UK, or in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, it was judgement call that I, as ANST Mage, had the option to make. Again, you are free to disagree or agree with my opinion as you choose. I don’t expect or demand that everyone cling to my opinions as gospel. Just please don’t tell me I am wrong on a judgement call or an opinion.
And I don’t mean to come across as uncaring or un-sympathetic to your opinion or your feelings on this matter. First, I care what players think. But that doesn’t mean I always do what players want. Second, I will not sit here and pretend that I never had a knee-jerk reaction when a new rule addendum was published. I’ve had them quite often in fact. So, if you read what the US addendum and had a knee-jerk reaction of outrage, confusion, or just general displeasure to what is in there, I understand your opinions and feelings and I consider them perfectly valid. But please try to remember there is no rule that cannot be undone or amended. The venue is 15 hours old at this point. How about we all actually play a few games, let the venue develop a bit, get a few regional and maybe a national event under our belts, and then we reassess the matter? I swear to you that I am keeping a very close eye on the issue of Legacies in the US (so close in fact that I am actually tracking the number of approvals submitted for Legacies), and I have every intention of revisitting the issue if down the road I discover that the increased approval level is hurting the venue, not benefitting it. My goal here has always been to make the Mage venue something exciting and enjoyable. I want to make the game more attractive so that it draws more players. But if along the way to making my goal a reality, I sometimes have to make a decision that I believe is right even though I know it will be unpopular, please try to be understanding in return.
If anyone wants to write to me, please feel free to do so. I can be reached at chyldprodg@aol.com
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EDIT: At the request of a few people I will go ahead and open up comments on this post. However, I'd like to clarify a few misperceptions.
First, I chose to post here as opposed to the Camarilla livejournal account because I was hoping it would help a few people realize that 1) this account exists and 2) if they want to see whatever I may publish in the future, they should make sure that they are subscribed to it (*HINT HINT* go subscribe to this LJ if you aren't already. I do anticipate posting stuff you might want to know on here someday).
Second, I don't always seem to get notice when posts are made to this account (or to comments on my personal account for some reason) and since don't check this account regularly, I thought email was the better way to make sure I saw what people had to say to me. I will endeavor to check this account more regularly. But if you post something and I don't reply to you in a reasonable time, it is entirely possible that I didn't get notice you made a comment.
Justin Diaz
US2002021709
US ANST Mage