Player's Guide, Part Two
Here is Part Two of the Player's Guide. I'd link directly to Part One, but then you'd get the whole thing, without the lj-cuts, and that's long. So I'll just suggest you scroll down to the next entry instead.
POSITIONS
The station has three primary positions, and four secondary positions. Each primary position is a voting position, and will have chief control over the station and its duties. The secondary positions, although non-voting, will still have a great deal of control over the day to day existence of the station.
Each position can be applied for by every character, and the character creation package includes an application handout for the position. Who holds the position will be decided on based on several factors:
If the character has the knowledge required to hold down the position. The Keeper of Life/Bringer of Death (medical doctor) will require at least some knowledge of medicine in order to maintain their position.
If the character has the contacts/allies/resources to push for the bid. That is, if it comes down to two people who are equally qualified, whomever has called in the most favours will receive the position. There will be cases where someone who is not as qualified may receive the position because they have a mentor or contact on the selection committee. Also, someone else can use their contacts or allies to push for you to receive the position as well.
If no one has used their contacts/allies/resources to ruin your chances of getting the position. Just as someone can assist you in getting the position, someone else can push their mentor to take the position away from you.
Each position will require a certain amount of downtime actions dedicated towards it in order to ensure that your job is done properly. However, each position also allows you access to advantages that you would not have otherwise. Also, your actions can assist others, making their jobs easier.
If a position is not filled by application, it will be appointed by committee.
Most positions will require a minimum of 5 downtime actions / month, and cannot be assisted by members of your cabal. Each position has its own unique benefits, but these benefits can only be revealed to the successful candidate.
Primary Positions
Position: Senior Supply and Resource Manager
Required individual must be familiar with the ins and outs of a working Tradition society. Required skills include organizational aptitude, shipping/receiving, and inventory management. As this is a leadership position, previous leadership experience is an asset.
Position: Chief Tinker
Successful candidate must be capable of keeping the station and equipment working, in order to prevent death of occupants through disrepair. Suggest aptitudes include Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Biological and/or Social Engineering doctorates (or equivalent experience).
Position: Knowledge Expansion Guide
Life experience in a group exploration and development environment would be nifty. Keep everybody organized and on track. Keep people from poking their noses into things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Not so much as control the direction of external exploration, but guide it in the direction it is to grow and develop.
Secondary Positions
Spiritual Contact Advisor - guide and track experiences and interactions with Spiritual Entities. Note behavior and attitude of all involved parties to encourage learning and to assist further and future contact.
Chief Bottle Washer - clean up after everybody else, ensure ready supply of required supplies. Book lab time to ensure everybody gets equal share. Really, you're a meatware version of an electronic organizer with a bottle brush attached. Combat skills an asset.
Keeper of Life, Bringer of Death - ensure everybody keeps the same amount of blood they started out with. Preferably inside their bodies, but not a requirement. Preside over funerals if required.
Conflict Resolutionist - In the event that the station is assaulted, coordinate defenses until tranquility is restored.
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ACOLYTES
Acolytes are the mortal companions of mages. They're friends, allies, lovers, procurers of supplies, assistants and bodyguards, or some combination thereof. They're Aware, but not Awake. They know of the Ascension War, and are quite often casualties to it. They're not "just" servants. In many ways, Acolytes are superior to mages. They remind mages of humanity, and of who and what the Ascension War is allegedly about. They typically have some special quality that sets them apart from other Sleepers. This may be insatiable curiosity, strong will, frustration with the status quo, or some unknown spark that makes them capable of handling this aspect of reality. They may risk their lives for a mage, and expect a similar loyalty in return.
In terms of in-game benefits, an Acolyte can be a very effective member of a cabal. Most obviously, their presence in a cabal increases the amount of the arete pool, without taking anything from it. (See character creation for more details.) They can assist cabal members in rituals and magick, both in downtime actions and at actual game events. Every hour or downtime turn that an acolyte assists a mage in a ritual lowers the magick difficulty by 1, to a maximum of 3.
Because of their "sidelines" approach to the Ascension War, Acolytes typically band together. They can ignore the politics that make intra-Tradition rivalries so vicious, and thus can purchase Traditions Influence at ½ of the cost of regular mages.
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FAMILIARS
Familiars are intelligent spirit beings who inhabit some physical body (usually animal) in order to interact with the material world. A mage must specially prepare this material body -whether cat or golem - to act as a spirit vessel. This rite creates a compact between mage and familiar. The bond intensifies through a symbiotic relationship between the two: the familiar feeds on a mage's Quintessence, and in exchange, it grants its host access to strange bits of lore and helps protect him from Paradox.
Familiars can be played as player characters in Untitled, but at a high price. Familiars do not contribute to any of the character creation pool of a cabal. The mage they are bound to must put points into the familiar background, which affects the amount of skills and abilities the familiar can have. As well, the contract between the two must be written up and agreed upon. If either party violates the contract, it becomes null and void, and the familiar will leave the mage.
However, familiars can be a strong asset to a cabal. As stated, they have access to strange lore and information, and can remove paradox from a mage. They have many abilities outside of what are allowed for mages. Please see the character creation rules for familiars for more information.
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RULES CLARIFICATIONS
Several rules have been changed or clarified from Laws of Ascension and from the Fade to Black house rules. Also, we have included some of the optional rules from Laws of Ascension: Companion. For your reference, here is a list of rules that have been explicitly altered:
Attributes - see Traits, page XX
Magick
Abilities + magick
Counter Magick
Magick on the Forums / without an Organizer
Resonance
Seekings
Do - see Abilities, page XX
Health Levels and Recovery Times
Experience
Optional Rules
Magick
The biggest change from Laws of Ascension is our decision to go with a dice-based system for magick. The organizers will be carrying 10 sided dice during the events, and will provide them to you when you need to roll for magick.
Adapted from Mage: The Ascension (page 163):
Roll your mage's Arete for his magickal Effect roll against a target number, or difficulty, determined by the storyteller. The more dice you roll, however, the greater the chance for a botch. A botch is when your character rolls more 1s than successes.
Difficulty is determined by many things, including if the effect is Coincidental, Vulgar without Witness or Vulgar with Witness. Magick which stirs the pot a little - like conjuring a laptop from inside a case or overcoat - is not difficult to use. Things get harder if the spell obviously defies what most people would consider possible - creating the computer from thin air, for instance. If some un-Aware person is watching, the "weight" of his disbelief makes the feat harder still. (Note that Acolytes are considered Aware, and do not count as "witnesses".)
Coincidental magick's base difficulty is the highest Sphere used in the Effect +3. If Cheshire pulled the laptop from his coat - a coincidental Matter 4, Forces 3, Prime 2 spell - his base difficulty would be 7.
Vulgar without Witness begins with a difficulty of the highest sphere + 4. If Cheshire's magick was vulgar - he created the laptop right in his hand - but no un-Awakened person was around to see it, his difficulty would be 8.
Vulgar magick with witnesses uses the highest Sphere +5. Say Cheshire created the computer in plain sight of mundane observers; his base difficulty would be 9.
Even if it succeeds, a vulgar Effect earns one point of Paradox.
The Coincidence Rule of Thumb
(From Laws of Ascension, page 130)
Because of the benefits in terms of difficulty and (lack of) resultant Paradox, players will argue long and loud about how their Effects are plausibly coincidental. Ultimately a Storyteller has the final call, but some good guidelines include:
If the average person off the street wouldn't believe it, it's not a coincidence.
If it takes more than a sentence to explain why it's a coincidence, it's not
If it takes more than a minute to come up with an explanation that fits into one sentence for why it's a coincidence, it's not.
Degrees of Success
Botch: More 1s than successes on the dice roll. The mystick makes a critical mistake and screws everything up. The Effect is wasted, and the mage gains paradox points.
Total Failure: No successes, but no botch. The mage may continue his spell at +1 difficulty, or try again from scratch.
Partial success: 50% of the necessary successes. The mystick accomplishes what he set out to do, but not as well as he would have liked. Cheshire, for instance, creates his computer, but it doesn't work properly; perhaps it's missing some vital pieces or the workings are flawed.
Success: 100% of the successes required. The mage does exactly what he wanted to do. Cheshire's laptop functions as well as any "normal" computer would.
Extraordinary success: 150% or better. The mage not only succeeds, he succeeds brilliantly. Cheshire's laptop is sturdy enough to take a lot of abuse, looks great, and has some unusual functions that even Cheshire hadn't planned on, like a one-terabyte memory, DVD ROM and Ozy and Millie Screensaver.
Modifiers
A variety of circumstances - from high stress situations to elaborate rituals - can make magickal feats harder or easier to perform.
Activity Difficulty Modifier
Researches lore on subject before using magick -1 to -3
Has item resonating with target's essence -1 to -3
Near a node -1 to -3
Uses a unique focus -1
Uses focus without needing it -1
Extra time spend on magick -1
Spending a point of Quintessence -1 per point spent
Using Tass with appropriate Resonance -1
Using Tass with opposed Resonance +1
Fast-Casting +1
Distant or hidden subject +1
Mage distracted +1 to + 3
Mage in conflict with Avatar +1 to + 3
Domino Effect +1 to + 3
Monumental feat (pulling moon from orbit) +1 to + 3
Assume that no modifier can add to or reduce a difficulty by more than three places, total. Thus, no matter what Cheshire did, the minimum difficulty to create a computer out of thin air would be 4 and the maximum would be 10.
How many successes do I need?
For the most part, the size and complexity of a magickal feat determines the amount of successes needed to accomplish it.
In general, assume that an Effect which alters only the mage herself needs only one or two successes to perform.
An action which affects another existing object or being needs at least two successes to have any sort of impact. Any less an the magick simply washes around the target's pattern, unable to affect it.
A spell which affects the world around the magick - may demand anywhere from one to 30 successes, depending on the nature of the magick. Creating a flame on the tip of your finger is easy; pulling the moon out of orbit is not.
Feat Successes Required
Simple Feat 1
(changing the colour of your own eyes, lighting a candle, using Mind magick to sense someone nearby, conjuring a business card)
Standard Feat 2
(changing your own shape, causing an oil lamp to explode, influencing someone's mood with Mind magick, conjuring a ball of flame)
Difficult Feat 3
(transforming into something bigger or smaller than yourself, igniting a gas main, deep reading someone's mind, conjuring a chain saw)
Impressive feat 4
(changing someone else's shape, blowing up a house, taking over someone's mind, conjuring a cat, making yourself disappear)
Mighty feat 5-10
(turning someone into sludge, incinerating an armored tank, obliterating someone's mind, conjuring a mythic beast, making all furniture in a room disappear)
Outlandish Feat 10 - 20
(turning a roomful of people into sludge, igniting a warship's weaponry, mind-controlling a hoard of madmen, conjuring a demon, making a mansion disappear)
Godlike feat 20 or more
(making a skyscraper disappear, finding one particular person in New York using mind magick, summoning a horror from the Deep Umbra, levitation a mountain, creating a Horizon realm.)
Rituals and Extended Magick Rolls
A mage can accomplish most feats with little difficulty. However, some magicks are so complicated or powerful that the caster must take extra time to succeed. In story terms, she has to work some magickal rituals; in game terms, her player must make an extended roll, gather enough successes to finish the job. These can be done in game (but can take several hours of game time), but we recommend they be done through downtime actions.
Abilities Enhancing Magick
Sometimes mundane Abilities can improve a mage's chances of using magick successfully. This often ties into the mystick's chosen style; many practices involve singing, dancing, divination, technological skills, arcane languages, names of power, scientific theories, martial art forms and even weapons skills.
If some Ability applies to a mage's casting, it should be used in the turn before that magick is attempted. The mage does a simple test, difficulty the same as for the magick the mage is attempting. If the character wins, the difficulty is reduced by the number of traits the character has in that ability (up to a maximum of 3). If the character ties, the difficulty is reduced by ½ of the traits that character has, rounded down (to a maximum of 3).
The Storyteller may rule that certain Abilities are essential to working a particular Effect. Healing a third-degree burn with Life might require Medicine, while fixing a car engine with Matter may require Technology. If an Ability like Expression or Occult is part of a magickal focus, the mystick must do a challenge before using the magick. Failing the challenge might raise the magick's roll's difficulty as well.
Countermagick
Countermagick comes in several forms. Basic Countermagick is essentially a soak roll against magick. Offensive Countermagick can affect a spell aimed at someone else. Anti-magick uses quintessence to strengthen the patterns of reality against an effect. Unweaving is breaking a continuous spell (such as a ward or a curse) apart using magick.
First, you must detect the incoming effect. See detecting magic in action.
You can counter 1 effect per Awareness level per turn. If you have 3 Awareness, you can counter a maximum of 3 effects that turn. Countering an effect takes your magic action for that round.
When you decide you want to counter an effect, you make a standard magic roll. The difficulty will vary depending on the situation. Each success you get on this roll removes one success from the original effect. More powerful effects take more work to counter.
You can only counter spheres you have, except prime - prime magic can counter anything, but takes 2 successes to counter one from an unknown sphere.
Basic Countermagick
To attempt basic countermagick, a mystic must have at least one dot in the Spheres involved in the attack: she then rolls her Arete, difficulty 7. Successes scored in countermagick council out the original Effect on a one-for-one basis.
If the successes exceed the original Effect's roll, that spell completely fizzles. The original Effect can also fail if the countermagick reduces it below the original caster's intended parameters. IF the feat required five successes, a successful countermagick within its area can render it null and voice. The attack would either have to roll more successes (at a +1 difficulty) or try again.
Example:
Adam has Arete 3, Awareness 2, Time 2, Correspondence 2, Forces 2, Prime 3.
He can counter 2 effects per round (per Awareness).
He gets jumped by Betty and Charles. Betty uses a Mind 3 effect to confuse him and gets 2 successes. Charles uses a Forces/Prime lightning bolt and zaps him for 3 successes.
Adam is aware of both effects (Prime) and knows what Charles is sending his way (Prime/Forces), but is not sure what Betty is doing against him (no Mind). He does his roll and spends some quintessence and willpower for 5 successes. He spends 3 against Charles to cancel that effect entirely (he knows what that one does) and spends the last 2 (because he has Prime) against Betty to reduce her effect by 1 success.
Charles' effect fizzles, but Betty's still gets through, although half as potent
Offensive Countermagick
Generally, countermagick only applies to Effects cast at the defending mage. With an arete roll verses difficulty 8, he can try to counter a spell aimed at someone else. With a little extra effort, he might turn an offensive spell back at its maker!
Such counterspelling requires at least one dot in one of the Spheres in the attack and at least one dot in Prime. Both castings must be done within the same turn. By beating the attacker's successes with an Arete roll against difficulty 9, the defender can reflect the attack back at his opponent. Each success over the attacker's counts as one magickal success against her.
Anti-Magick
A mage with Prime 2 or greater may use his own stored Quintessence to counter another's magick. This special defensive measure takes an entire action. Since anti-magick tries to stop reality's disruption, it never generates paradox. This option may also counter an Effect that is not directed at the defending mage.
The mage may spend Quintessence up to his Avatar rating, raising the difficulty of magick in the area by +1 for each point of Quintessence spent, to a maximum of 10. This may exceed the usual +3. The attacker has a chance to counter the defender's Prime Effect by spending Quintessence and Willpower immediately afterwards.
Unweaving
Many magicks are continuous; ward and bans set up magickal barriers which persist until broken, while curses expel their malefic power over time. Although a mystic cannot use countermagick in such cases - unless he was there during the initial casting -he can try to unweave the magick.
To attempt unweaving, a mage must have some basic knowledge of each of the Spheres involved an understanding of the first rank of Prime, so as to see the threads of magickal energy. Unweaving is hard - difficulty 8 - but a mage may make extended rolls until he overcomes each of the caster's initial successes. Unlike other forms of countermagick, Abilities may reduce the difficulty of unweaving rolls. A botch during the process, however, ruins the attempt; the mage must begin again.
Magick on the Forums / Magick Without an Organizer
The lives of mages are full of coincidences. From always entering a room at 13 minutes past the hour to always having the attention of the waiters when you need a refill on your coffee, mages lives can be interesting and easy. These sorts of things are just part and parcel of being a mage, and don't "require" magick. Your character is magick all in herself. We encourage you to have these sorts of coincidences in your character's life. Also consider the flip side: Sure, you always have your coffee refreshed when you need it, but whenever you put down your pen, it disappears.
As for the actual casting of magick, we're allowing anything that can be done with level 1 of a sphere to be done on the forums or in metagaming without requiring organizer intervention. If the information your character is looking for is readily available either to you or to the other players involved, just give out the information without any problems. We have two requests: You bring the magick involved and its results to our attention by highlighting it in the post, and that if we bring up something that your character should have/would have noticed, you run with it.
For example, if Caitlyn comes to Tra'hari complaining about intense pain in her leg after a workout. Tra'hari, being Verbena, does a quick life scan. Both players agree to the magick, and Caitlyn's player advises Tra'hari's that her character has a broken leg. Later, after bringing this to the attention of the organizers, Tom advises them that Tra'hari would have also noticed that Caitlyn is pregnant.
For all magick without an organizer, we do require that you only use magick that you have a rote for. The player that you are working with can demand to see the rote on your character sheet or on a rote card before consenting to the magick. If there are any questions or concerns, please place the scene on hold and contact an organizer.
If the magick is contested (i.e.: Caitlyn doesn't want Tra'hari to do magick, she'd rather he did a regular physical exam), the player who wants to do the magick can do a simple test. Win or tie, their magick succeeds. The "victim" can counter as per usual counter magick rules, but must win the challenge.
If any player does not want the magick to take place without an organizer, then the magick doesn't work until an organizer can be found to do the dice rolls.
Resonance
We have done away with the Attribute effects of resonance. Instead, resonance will affect how your magick works, how much of a "signature" your magick has, and how people who are unAwakened will interact with you. Those with higher resonance will find it harder to do "anonymous" magick, and will find it harder to deal with Sleepers. On the other hand, magick that works well with your resonance will be easier to do.
The theory of Resonance states that just as a mage affects the world with her magick, that magick affects her as well. By wielding her power, she fundamentally changes herself, and a bit of her lingers with the magick. The effect of this Resonance may not be readily discernible in the short term. However, the more powerful you get, the less human you are, and your Resonance will reflect this, such as a Master of Life magick never getting sick, or a Master of Forces whose temper is legendary.
For example, Gabriel Sussex bani Euthanatos had the Resonance trait Entropic: Cold. His hands were always cold. When casting magick that required heat, it typically failed, but his cold spells were overwhelming (and almost killed someone he was trying to help). As time went on, he found it difficult to make emotional attachments to people because of this coldness.
Possible Resonance Traits:
Dynamic traits describe things in motion, change, new ideas, and action. Try traits like Quick, Flashy, Unique, Creative, Spinning, Whirling, Frantic, Frenzied, Intriguing, Liberating or Novel.
Entropic Resonance covers destruction, death, decay, renewal and primordial energy. Use things like Seething, Bubbling, Destructive, Corruption, Withering, Disintegrating, Chaotic, Subtle, Primal or Ravaging.
Static Resonance ties into principles of definition and construction. Good ones include Single Minded, Focused, Intense, Patterned, Tiered, Enfolding, Encompassing, Defined, Programmed or Illuminating.
Seekings
Because this game takes place primarily in the Umbra, your avatar will have more sway than normal. As such, your avatar will be the one deciding when (or if) you'll go on a seeking, not you. You can be dragged into a seeking by your avatar at any time. You may never know you're on a seeking, and just suddenly feel a surge of power, or a slash of loss.
In game mechanics terms, any time you have the required experience (current rating times five), you can be placed on a seeking by the organizers. If you fail, you'll lose half of the required experience OR some permanent traits, either attributes or willpower.
You can opt out of a seeking at any point, which means your character will not be considered for a seeking during the course of the game. If you change your mind, let the organizers know so they can again consider if your avatar is ready.
It's possible that you'll never go on a seeking if the organizers don't think that it's appropriate for your character. Don't hesitate to come to us if you think your character is ready for a seeking. You know him/her better than we do. We may disagree, but we'll definitely take your concerns into consideration.
Do
Do (pronounced "doe") is a special ability that is only available to Akashic mages. It is a separate ability, not a brawl specialization. Non-Akashics and Acolytes cannot learn Do under any circumstances. Akashics can be kicked out of their tradition for attempting to teach it to others.
Please see Do (page XX) for more information.
Health Levels and Recovery Times
Mages are humans, despite having an Awakened Avatar. This means that, without help, they heal like normal humans.
We have altered the healing times and health levels for Untitled. The health levels are: healthy, bruised, bruised, wounded, wounded, wounded, incapacitated, mortally wounded, dead.
Healing from here to next level up takes…
1st bruised 1 hour
2nd bruised 1 day
1st wounded 1 week
2nd wounded 2 weeks
3rd wounded 1 month
incapacitated 2 months
mortally wounded 4 months
So to heal from mortally wounded to fine takes 7 months, 3 weeks, a day and an hour..
Lethal and Aggravated Damage skips healthy and bruised levels and starts at wounded. Healing Aggravated Damage is always vulgar.
Note: Wound penalties do not affect any tests involving Arete or casting Effects, until the mage becomes Incapacitated. A wizard's will is all he needs to make magick, after all, and his will doesn't depend on the flesh for support. Mages who are Incapacitated or Mortally Wounded may attempt to use magick if they're conscious, but they can usually enact only those Effects that deal with healing their wounds and/or escaping the battlefield. (Adapted from Laws of Ascension, page 190)
Experience Costs
The experience costs for Untitled are as follows:
New Attribute (Traits) Target Rating
New Ability Target Rating
New Specialization (in an ability you already have) 1
New Background Target Rating
New Sphere 5
Tradition Specialty Sphere Target Rating * 4
Non-Specialty Sphere Target Rating * 5
Willpower Target Rating
Arete Current Rating * 5
Rote 1
Please see the section on downtime (page XX) for more information about learning times and spending experience.
Optional Rules
This is a list of optional rules that we are using. Please see Laws of Ascension and Companion for more information on these rules.
Laws of Ascension
Ability Specialization Page 95
Attribute Limitations Page 123 We are using a sliding scale as follows:
Primary Attibute: no more than 15 traits in total
Secondary Attribute: no more than 12 traits in total
Tertiary Attribute: no more than 9 traits in total
Using Willpower Page 138 Instead of an additional "grade of success", using willpower is an automatic success on a magick roll. This can be cancelled out with botches, but the worse a character can do is fail, not botch.
Acting in Concert Page 138
Rituals and Extended Magick Page 138 Best used in downtime as opposed to actual events.
Fast-Casting Page 140
Dynamic Magick Page 140
Conjunctional Effects Page 141
Paradox Flaws Page 173
Paradox Realms Page 174
The following are from Laws of Ascension: Companion
Stacking Backgrounds Page 60
No Instant Kills Page 165 The "victim" can relent to being instantly killed.
In order to succeed at killing someone, an organizer must be present (the scene can be placed on hold until an organizer is found) and your character must say "And I kill you." If you beat someone down to mortally wounded "by accident", you leave them with a permanent wound (as per the flaw.)
(Please comment on this section here.)
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
{Rather than post the entirity of the essay here, I'm just going to post our introductory comments, with a link to the actual essay.}
The following essay was taken from Johanna Mead's Unsolicited but Useful Advice for LARPers website. It reflects our opinions about both player and storyteller responsibilities within a LARP. We will be following them to the best of our abilities, and expect the players to do the same.
If you have any questions or concerns about this, please bring them to our attention.
It Takes Two to Tango: Player and Game Master Responsibilities
Taken from http://www.skaro.com/larpresp.html by Johanna Mead
(Please comment on this section here.)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Setting
Does this follow the same "universe" as Fade?
Yes. For a recap, there was no attack on the Twin Towers. There has been several attacks on Canada and U.S. docks and shipping, leading to the same sort of lockdowns and paranoia that our current world has. The current Tradition thinking overall is that the Technocracy is responsible, in a bid to better control the masses. With everyone requiring ID cards, and immigration becoming more and more difficult, it's easier to trace where people are going. However, not everyone agrees with this. Some think it's the Nephandi, some think Marauders (although how any group of them could have stayed organized long enough to do that is a mystery). Others agree with Sleeper government - It really was a terrorist attack, and Mages are just too obsessed with themselves to realize it.
Last year saw an outbreak of a mage-only virus, one that mutated whenever the victim had magick cast on them. Even going near a node could cause more mutations. A chantry in Nova Scotia managed to create a vaccine, and through it eventually a cure. A SoE named "Casey" is listed as creating the cure, although she's disappeared from sight. Not much is known about the details. Within months, the outbreak was contained, although regular screenings are now taking place in major chantries across the world.
In 2006, the next meeting of the Council of Nine Traditions will be held in Horizon. The last meeting, in 1997, had only three attendants. The Hollow Ones also sent representatives, but they were not allowed to participate.
Where does everyone live in game?
You will all be living in the station. Each cabal will have it's own living quarters that open up onto the main living areas. Basically, expect little to no privacy.
Having seen flame wars erupt on forums for every live game I've ever heard of, let me remind you that you'll be living right next store to the person who just called you a stupid bint, so if you want to whap them with the stupid stick, feel free.
If the game is in the umbra, how come there's still vulgar magic and paradox at events?
Our special effects budget is somewhat limited.
There is 'normal' reality inside the station, because most of the magi have been from Earth and will, at least subconsciously, believe that reality. Outside the chantry, they just can't hold on to that belief - the offspring of an octopus and a bicycle flying by kinda throws that off.
Character Creation
Can I play my character from Fade?
No.
But, she/he was really kewl, and I really loved playing him/her, and-
No.
That being said, familiar NPCs may be showing up, and you may hear rumours of the existence of the former PCs. If you want to write in your background that you met the famous Krowsnest, or had your first kiss while listening to DJ Jynx, talk to us about it and we'll see what we can do. But don't hold your breath.
Why would I play an acolyte instead of a mage?
For each hour or downtime turn an acolyte spends assisting with or preparing for a ritual decreases the ritual difficulty by 1.
Acolytes can add their successes to those of the mage they assist for most downtime actions - everything except Seekings, building traits, WP, learning spheres, and casting magic.
Acolytes contribute to the pool of Arete (see step 6 or character creation) but do not draw from it, allowing the Magi in the cabal to have a higher Arete than without an acolyte.
Me and/or my cabal want a Node. What do I need to do to get one?
This would be a good time for a cookie bribe to your organizer.
Nodes are very costly, due to the nature of the game. A node costs double the background points initially, and is doubled again if you chose to make a portable node.
There are also many things you must consider when making a node: Where is it? Who is guarding it when you are away? What does it look like? What resonance is it? What does the tass produced look like? If it's portable, how big is it? How did you get it? Did you steal it from someone who might be looking to get it back? Nodes are a rare and valuable commodity, and you must be prepared to defend it.
How can I gain Quintessence?
Without Prime 3, you can't channel Quintessence from a node or other power source, nor can you transfer Quintessence from another mage. Without Prime 1, you can't hold more Quintessence than your Avatar rating.
Meditating by a node can naturally gain you Quintessence up to your Avatar rating (or higher if you have Prime 1). However, the only power sources available on the station are dedicated towards keeping the station running. Quintessence will not be readily available to you, unless you make other plans.
Rules
What is the difference between Coincidental Magick, Vulgar Without Witness, and Vulgar with Witness, and how will being in the Umbra affect that?
"Coincidental magick: An effect that could be accepted as normal, if unusual, by a mundane observer.
"Vulgar magick: An effect that obviously defies reality as we know it."
(page 161, 2nd edition Mage)
That being said, it always depends on the situation you're in, and what's happened before it. I fall into the category of people who believe you can pull a fifty dollar bill out of your pocket as long as that pocket hasn't been previously noticed as being empty (you pulled it out before to show it's empty).
However, creating that fifty dollar bill in the palm of your hand when sitting alone in the washroom is vulgar without witness. So is doing it in front of a group of mages, or while hanging out with acolytes. However, if your unAware sister walks in the room, be prepared for paradox.
Please note that monitoring equipment does not count as a witness. You can pull that fifty out of thin air in front of a camera and it's just vulgar without.
If you're unclear on a specific effect, talk to the organizers.
Magick in the actual station will (at least initially) follow Earth-standard belief systems. Things that are vulgar on Earth will be vulgar on the station.
There is a section of the station that is being built for "Umbral Reality", but it will take trial and error before your mages will be able to understand "vulgar" and "coincidental" as defined by the realm you're in.
How do I detect magic in action?
You must have Awareness to see effects without actively using magic. Viewing active effects is automatic in combat but requires a mental challenge in non-combat situations. You can only see the effects of spheres you have. If you have Prime but lack the sphere used in the effect, you can determine that there is an effect, but not what spheres it involves. Now that you've determined that there is an effect, determining what it does requires a bit more work.
How does countermagick work?
First, you must detect the incoming effect. See detecting magic in action.
You can counter 1 effect per Awareness level per turn. If you have 3 Awareness, you can counter a maximum of 3 effects that turn. Countering an effect takes your magic action for that round.
When you decide you want to counter an effect, you make a standard magic challenge. The difficulty will vary depending on the situation. Each success you get on this challenge removes one success from the original effect. More powerful effects take more work to counter.
You can only counter spheres you have, except prime - prime magic can counter anything, but takes 2 successes to counter one from an unknown sphere.
Example:
Adam has Arete 3, Awareness 2, Time 2, Correspondence 2, Forces 2, Prime 3.
He can counter 2 effects per round (per Awareness).
He gets jumped by Betty and Charles. Betty uses a Mind 3 effect to confuse him and gets 2 successes. Charles uses a Forces/Prime lightning bolt and zaps him for 3 successes.
Adam is aware of both effects (Prime) and knows what Charles is sending his way (Prime/Forces), but is not sure what Betty is doing against him (no Mind). He does his challenge and spends some quintessence and willpower for 5 successes. He spends 3 against Charles to cancel that effect entirely (he knows what that one does) and spends the last 2 (because he has Prime) against Betty to reduce her effect by 1 success.
Charles' effect fizzles, but Betty's still gets through, although half as potent.
Now that you're doing magick with dice, how will "Multi-tasking" work?
You roll your dice at the difficulty the organizer suggests. Every success you receive is an extra thing you can concentrate on, above anything initially.
What about seekings?
Because this game takes place primarily in the Umbra, your avatar will have more sway than normal. As such, your avatar will be the one deciding when (or if) you'll go on a seeking, not you. You can be dragged into a seeking by your avatar at any time. You may never know you're on a seeking, and just suddenly feel a surge of power, or a slash of loss.
In game mechanics terms, any time you have the required experience (current rating times four), you can be placed on a seeking by the organizers. If you fail, you'll lose half of your experience OR some permanent traits, either attributes or willpower.
It's possible that you'll never go on a seeking if the organizers don't think that it's appropriate for your character. Don't hesitate to come to us if you think your character is ready for a seeking. You know him/her better than we do. We may disagree, but we'll definitely take your concerns into consideration.
But I don't want to go on a Seeking. I don't want to risk the XP/attributes!
Tell the organizers as soon as you realize you don't want to go on a Seeking. You can opt out. You can also opt back in at any time. Keep us updated to your thoughts and opinions on this. If you don't opt out, we'll consider you opted in, and willing to have a Seeking whenever you Avatar deems it necessary.
When are downtime turns due? What happens if they're late?
They are due no later than the 2nd Thursday of every month. We will not be accepting late submissions.
How do I submit downtime?
Option 1 - Submit your downtime electronically via the handy downtime submission form: http://www3.telus.net/public/dexx4d/downtime.html
Option 2 - Write up your downtime on the sheets provided at game, and submit them physically to the organizers.
When will results be handed back to players?
Downtimes will be electronically handed out the Wednesday before game day. That is, you'll receive an email with your results. You will also receive a hard copy on Thursday, assuming the organizers see you. If the organizers don't see you, a hard copy will be handed out at the event as well.
I want to kill a character!
First, talk to an Organizer. Let us know in advance so we can help you with any planning. We may also try to discourage you. Just a heads up there.
Second, they don't die unless you say, "...and I kill you!" when they're at Mortally Wounded. Otherwise, they're just unconscious until someone comes along to heal them. Please remember that it can take them over 7 months to heal, so this can be a major disadvantage if you leave them alive.
I want to kill a player!
Welcome to the club, but we aren't adding anyone else to the organizing staff at this time.
My character is being ignored by the rest of my Tradition. Everything I've tried to do has ended badly. I want a new character.
Everybody hates me because I did something stupid. I want a new character.
I've been killed. I want a new character.
Due to the nature of the game, we will not be allowing any new characters in until six months of game time.
Game Events - OOC Rules
How much will each event cost? Will you be doing donations again?
After much discussion, we've determined we can't afford to run a game by donation. Each event will cost 5$, unless otherwise noted.
I'm a LRPS member. Do I get to pay less?
No. Our benefit to LRPS members is extra downtime actions. They get 3 extra actions above any other bonuses. Please see the section on downtime for more information.
I don't think/know I can't afford 5$ this month. What should I do?
If you let us know well in advance (at least 1 week), we can work something out. We can always use a hand and we'll find some way you can help us out instead of giving cash. But it is a requirement that you talk to us first.
If you show up at the door and can't pay, we won't turn you away. But you get one "freebie" - we'll still want an IOU for that event. We're going to be a bit stricter on this than we have in the past - we can't afford to lose over a hundred dollars a game any more. If you show up at the door and cannot pay a second time, you'll be welcomed in to enjoy your last game - your character will be 'recalled' back to earth, and your cabal will be short one member.
Why are you using dice for magic?
Because the White Wolf live rules for magic suck. This is how we're working around them.
How much experience is each event worth? What other ways can I gain experience?
You get 1 point for showing up, and an additional point if you show up on time. There is one point for submitting your downtime turn on time. You can also earn 1 XP for submitting a 250 - 500 word summary of the event from your character's POV, to be put on the website.
What happens if I can't attend a game?
Please develop an in character reason for your character's absence. Maybe you were called away to Earth, maybe you're sick, maybe you're on a secret mission for the government that you can't discuss. Let us know in advance, if possible.
Yes, things come up at the last minute, and games are definitely less important than Real Life. If you can, do call us so we're not worried about you, and can make your excuses to your cabal.
Can I bring my sword/crossbow/knife/realistic gun prop/chainsaw to the game?
No.
What is the policy on weapon props? I don't want to bring my knife, I want to bring my fake knife.
Any and all weapons props must be approved by a Storyteller before entering the site. Anything considered a weapon, you will be asked to leave outside of the site. The Storyteller's word is final as to what is considered a weapon. Our preference is plastic. Your weapons don't need to look fake, but we don't really want to be on A Channel's news, either.
I can't tell if the person I'm communicating with on the Forums is too busy to respond, or his character is ignoring me. What should I do?
We are encouraging people to indicate that their character is not responding to a post or an email by replying with no response. If you've waited a week and this has yet to be posted/emailed to you, post a quick reminder to them that you're waiting. If they still haven't responded, assume it's an OOC issue (school, work, broken computer) and wait it out.
One of the players can't spell. Can I please have access to their posts to edit their spelling?
No. The people who have difficulties spelling know they have that problem, and there's no need to harp on them for it. All I can suggest is that players who are concerned about their spelling download ieSpell, from http://www.iespell.com/, as it has a built in spell checker.
Is there anything else I should keep in mind?
Remember that your characters will not be interacting very often (if at all) with Sleepers or the Unaware. Go all out on your costuming! Be a Hermetic with long flowing robes and a pointy hat. Be a Cultist in the flashiest clothes that XXI Forever will get you. Go nuts with your SoE, complete with Ether Goggles and Proton Pack. Have fun with the costuming! Don't be limited by what's "normal", because face it: You're in the Umbra.
Are you people nuts?
Yes.
(Please comment on this section here.)
So... long....
I want to take this opportunity to thank Tom, Kris, and Matthew for their contributions to this guide. Each of them helped with ideas, comments, brain storming, and general support. Their fingerprints are all over this thing. Thanks, guys.
Check out the whole thing in rtf format here
POSITIONS
The station has three primary positions, and four secondary positions. Each primary position is a voting position, and will have chief control over the station and its duties. The secondary positions, although non-voting, will still have a great deal of control over the day to day existence of the station.
Each position can be applied for by every character, and the character creation package includes an application handout for the position. Who holds the position will be decided on based on several factors:
If the character has the knowledge required to hold down the position. The Keeper of Life/Bringer of Death (medical doctor) will require at least some knowledge of medicine in order to maintain their position.
If the character has the contacts/allies/resources to push for the bid. That is, if it comes down to two people who are equally qualified, whomever has called in the most favours will receive the position. There will be cases where someone who is not as qualified may receive the position because they have a mentor or contact on the selection committee. Also, someone else can use their contacts or allies to push for you to receive the position as well.
If no one has used their contacts/allies/resources to ruin your chances of getting the position. Just as someone can assist you in getting the position, someone else can push their mentor to take the position away from you.
Each position will require a certain amount of downtime actions dedicated towards it in order to ensure that your job is done properly. However, each position also allows you access to advantages that you would not have otherwise. Also, your actions can assist others, making their jobs easier.
If a position is not filled by application, it will be appointed by committee.
Most positions will require a minimum of 5 downtime actions / month, and cannot be assisted by members of your cabal. Each position has its own unique benefits, but these benefits can only be revealed to the successful candidate.
Primary Positions
Position: Senior Supply and Resource Manager
Required individual must be familiar with the ins and outs of a working Tradition society. Required skills include organizational aptitude, shipping/receiving, and inventory management. As this is a leadership position, previous leadership experience is an asset.
Position: Chief Tinker
Successful candidate must be capable of keeping the station and equipment working, in order to prevent death of occupants through disrepair. Suggest aptitudes include Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Biological and/or Social Engineering doctorates (or equivalent experience).
Position: Knowledge Expansion Guide
Life experience in a group exploration and development environment would be nifty. Keep everybody organized and on track. Keep people from poking their noses into things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Not so much as control the direction of external exploration, but guide it in the direction it is to grow and develop.
Secondary Positions
Spiritual Contact Advisor - guide and track experiences and interactions with Spiritual Entities. Note behavior and attitude of all involved parties to encourage learning and to assist further and future contact.
Chief Bottle Washer - clean up after everybody else, ensure ready supply of required supplies. Book lab time to ensure everybody gets equal share. Really, you're a meatware version of an electronic organizer with a bottle brush attached. Combat skills an asset.
Keeper of Life, Bringer of Death - ensure everybody keeps the same amount of blood they started out with. Preferably inside their bodies, but not a requirement. Preside over funerals if required.
Conflict Resolutionist - In the event that the station is assaulted, coordinate defenses until tranquility is restored.
(Please comment on this section here.)
ACOLYTES
Acolytes are the mortal companions of mages. They're friends, allies, lovers, procurers of supplies, assistants and bodyguards, or some combination thereof. They're Aware, but not Awake. They know of the Ascension War, and are quite often casualties to it. They're not "just" servants. In many ways, Acolytes are superior to mages. They remind mages of humanity, and of who and what the Ascension War is allegedly about. They typically have some special quality that sets them apart from other Sleepers. This may be insatiable curiosity, strong will, frustration with the status quo, or some unknown spark that makes them capable of handling this aspect of reality. They may risk their lives for a mage, and expect a similar loyalty in return.
In terms of in-game benefits, an Acolyte can be a very effective member of a cabal. Most obviously, their presence in a cabal increases the amount of the arete pool, without taking anything from it. (See character creation for more details.) They can assist cabal members in rituals and magick, both in downtime actions and at actual game events. Every hour or downtime turn that an acolyte assists a mage in a ritual lowers the magick difficulty by 1, to a maximum of 3.
Because of their "sidelines" approach to the Ascension War, Acolytes typically band together. They can ignore the politics that make intra-Tradition rivalries so vicious, and thus can purchase Traditions Influence at ½ of the cost of regular mages.
(Please comment on this section here.)
FAMILIARS
Familiars are intelligent spirit beings who inhabit some physical body (usually animal) in order to interact with the material world. A mage must specially prepare this material body -whether cat or golem - to act as a spirit vessel. This rite creates a compact between mage and familiar. The bond intensifies through a symbiotic relationship between the two: the familiar feeds on a mage's Quintessence, and in exchange, it grants its host access to strange bits of lore and helps protect him from Paradox.
Familiars can be played as player characters in Untitled, but at a high price. Familiars do not contribute to any of the character creation pool of a cabal. The mage they are bound to must put points into the familiar background, which affects the amount of skills and abilities the familiar can have. As well, the contract between the two must be written up and agreed upon. If either party violates the contract, it becomes null and void, and the familiar will leave the mage.
However, familiars can be a strong asset to a cabal. As stated, they have access to strange lore and information, and can remove paradox from a mage. They have many abilities outside of what are allowed for mages. Please see the character creation rules for familiars for more information.
(Please comment on this section here.)
RULES CLARIFICATIONS
Several rules have been changed or clarified from Laws of Ascension and from the Fade to Black house rules. Also, we have included some of the optional rules from Laws of Ascension: Companion. For your reference, here is a list of rules that have been explicitly altered:
Attributes - see Traits, page XX
Magick
Abilities + magick
Counter Magick
Magick on the Forums / without an Organizer
Resonance
Seekings
Do - see Abilities, page XX
Health Levels and Recovery Times
Experience
Optional Rules
Magick
The biggest change from Laws of Ascension is our decision to go with a dice-based system for magick. The organizers will be carrying 10 sided dice during the events, and will provide them to you when you need to roll for magick.
Adapted from Mage: The Ascension (page 163):
Roll your mage's Arete for his magickal Effect roll against a target number, or difficulty, determined by the storyteller. The more dice you roll, however, the greater the chance for a botch. A botch is when your character rolls more 1s than successes.
Difficulty is determined by many things, including if the effect is Coincidental, Vulgar without Witness or Vulgar with Witness. Magick which stirs the pot a little - like conjuring a laptop from inside a case or overcoat - is not difficult to use. Things get harder if the spell obviously defies what most people would consider possible - creating the computer from thin air, for instance. If some un-Aware person is watching, the "weight" of his disbelief makes the feat harder still. (Note that Acolytes are considered Aware, and do not count as "witnesses".)
Coincidental magick's base difficulty is the highest Sphere used in the Effect +3. If Cheshire pulled the laptop from his coat - a coincidental Matter 4, Forces 3, Prime 2 spell - his base difficulty would be 7.
Vulgar without Witness begins with a difficulty of the highest sphere + 4. If Cheshire's magick was vulgar - he created the laptop right in his hand - but no un-Awakened person was around to see it, his difficulty would be 8.
Vulgar magick with witnesses uses the highest Sphere +5. Say Cheshire created the computer in plain sight of mundane observers; his base difficulty would be 9.
Even if it succeeds, a vulgar Effect earns one point of Paradox.
The Coincidence Rule of Thumb
(From Laws of Ascension, page 130)
Because of the benefits in terms of difficulty and (lack of) resultant Paradox, players will argue long and loud about how their Effects are plausibly coincidental. Ultimately a Storyteller has the final call, but some good guidelines include:
If the average person off the street wouldn't believe it, it's not a coincidence.
If it takes more than a sentence to explain why it's a coincidence, it's not
If it takes more than a minute to come up with an explanation that fits into one sentence for why it's a coincidence, it's not.
Degrees of Success
Botch: More 1s than successes on the dice roll. The mystick makes a critical mistake and screws everything up. The Effect is wasted, and the mage gains paradox points.
Total Failure: No successes, but no botch. The mage may continue his spell at +1 difficulty, or try again from scratch.
Partial success: 50% of the necessary successes. The mystick accomplishes what he set out to do, but not as well as he would have liked. Cheshire, for instance, creates his computer, but it doesn't work properly; perhaps it's missing some vital pieces or the workings are flawed.
Success: 100% of the successes required. The mage does exactly what he wanted to do. Cheshire's laptop functions as well as any "normal" computer would.
Extraordinary success: 150% or better. The mage not only succeeds, he succeeds brilliantly. Cheshire's laptop is sturdy enough to take a lot of abuse, looks great, and has some unusual functions that even Cheshire hadn't planned on, like a one-terabyte memory, DVD ROM and Ozy and Millie Screensaver.
Modifiers
A variety of circumstances - from high stress situations to elaborate rituals - can make magickal feats harder or easier to perform.
Activity Difficulty Modifier
Researches lore on subject before using magick -1 to -3
Has item resonating with target's essence -1 to -3
Near a node -1 to -3
Uses a unique focus -1
Uses focus without needing it -1
Extra time spend on magick -1
Spending a point of Quintessence -1 per point spent
Using Tass with appropriate Resonance -1
Using Tass with opposed Resonance +1
Fast-Casting +1
Distant or hidden subject +1
Mage distracted +1 to + 3
Mage in conflict with Avatar +1 to + 3
Domino Effect +1 to + 3
Monumental feat (pulling moon from orbit) +1 to + 3
Assume that no modifier can add to or reduce a difficulty by more than three places, total. Thus, no matter what Cheshire did, the minimum difficulty to create a computer out of thin air would be 4 and the maximum would be 10.
How many successes do I need?
For the most part, the size and complexity of a magickal feat determines the amount of successes needed to accomplish it.
In general, assume that an Effect which alters only the mage herself needs only one or two successes to perform.
An action which affects another existing object or being needs at least two successes to have any sort of impact. Any less an the magick simply washes around the target's pattern, unable to affect it.
A spell which affects the world around the magick - may demand anywhere from one to 30 successes, depending on the nature of the magick. Creating a flame on the tip of your finger is easy; pulling the moon out of orbit is not.
Feat Successes Required
Simple Feat 1
(changing the colour of your own eyes, lighting a candle, using Mind magick to sense someone nearby, conjuring a business card)
Standard Feat 2
(changing your own shape, causing an oil lamp to explode, influencing someone's mood with Mind magick, conjuring a ball of flame)
Difficult Feat 3
(transforming into something bigger or smaller than yourself, igniting a gas main, deep reading someone's mind, conjuring a chain saw)
Impressive feat 4
(changing someone else's shape, blowing up a house, taking over someone's mind, conjuring a cat, making yourself disappear)
Mighty feat 5-10
(turning someone into sludge, incinerating an armored tank, obliterating someone's mind, conjuring a mythic beast, making all furniture in a room disappear)
Outlandish Feat 10 - 20
(turning a roomful of people into sludge, igniting a warship's weaponry, mind-controlling a hoard of madmen, conjuring a demon, making a mansion disappear)
Godlike feat 20 or more
(making a skyscraper disappear, finding one particular person in New York using mind magick, summoning a horror from the Deep Umbra, levitation a mountain, creating a Horizon realm.)
Rituals and Extended Magick Rolls
A mage can accomplish most feats with little difficulty. However, some magicks are so complicated or powerful that the caster must take extra time to succeed. In story terms, she has to work some magickal rituals; in game terms, her player must make an extended roll, gather enough successes to finish the job. These can be done in game (but can take several hours of game time), but we recommend they be done through downtime actions.
Abilities Enhancing Magick
Sometimes mundane Abilities can improve a mage's chances of using magick successfully. This often ties into the mystick's chosen style; many practices involve singing, dancing, divination, technological skills, arcane languages, names of power, scientific theories, martial art forms and even weapons skills.
If some Ability applies to a mage's casting, it should be used in the turn before that magick is attempted. The mage does a simple test, difficulty the same as for the magick the mage is attempting. If the character wins, the difficulty is reduced by the number of traits the character has in that ability (up to a maximum of 3). If the character ties, the difficulty is reduced by ½ of the traits that character has, rounded down (to a maximum of 3).
The Storyteller may rule that certain Abilities are essential to working a particular Effect. Healing a third-degree burn with Life might require Medicine, while fixing a car engine with Matter may require Technology. If an Ability like Expression or Occult is part of a magickal focus, the mystick must do a challenge before using the magick. Failing the challenge might raise the magick's roll's difficulty as well.
Countermagick
Countermagick comes in several forms. Basic Countermagick is essentially a soak roll against magick. Offensive Countermagick can affect a spell aimed at someone else. Anti-magick uses quintessence to strengthen the patterns of reality against an effect. Unweaving is breaking a continuous spell (such as a ward or a curse) apart using magick.
First, you must detect the incoming effect. See detecting magic in action.
You can counter 1 effect per Awareness level per turn. If you have 3 Awareness, you can counter a maximum of 3 effects that turn. Countering an effect takes your magic action for that round.
When you decide you want to counter an effect, you make a standard magic roll. The difficulty will vary depending on the situation. Each success you get on this roll removes one success from the original effect. More powerful effects take more work to counter.
You can only counter spheres you have, except prime - prime magic can counter anything, but takes 2 successes to counter one from an unknown sphere.
Basic Countermagick
To attempt basic countermagick, a mystic must have at least one dot in the Spheres involved in the attack: she then rolls her Arete, difficulty 7. Successes scored in countermagick council out the original Effect on a one-for-one basis.
If the successes exceed the original Effect's roll, that spell completely fizzles. The original Effect can also fail if the countermagick reduces it below the original caster's intended parameters. IF the feat required five successes, a successful countermagick within its area can render it null and voice. The attack would either have to roll more successes (at a +1 difficulty) or try again.
Example:
Adam has Arete 3, Awareness 2, Time 2, Correspondence 2, Forces 2, Prime 3.
He can counter 2 effects per round (per Awareness).
He gets jumped by Betty and Charles. Betty uses a Mind 3 effect to confuse him and gets 2 successes. Charles uses a Forces/Prime lightning bolt and zaps him for 3 successes.
Adam is aware of both effects (Prime) and knows what Charles is sending his way (Prime/Forces), but is not sure what Betty is doing against him (no Mind). He does his roll and spends some quintessence and willpower for 5 successes. He spends 3 against Charles to cancel that effect entirely (he knows what that one does) and spends the last 2 (because he has Prime) against Betty to reduce her effect by 1 success.
Charles' effect fizzles, but Betty's still gets through, although half as potent
Offensive Countermagick
Generally, countermagick only applies to Effects cast at the defending mage. With an arete roll verses difficulty 8, he can try to counter a spell aimed at someone else. With a little extra effort, he might turn an offensive spell back at its maker!
Such counterspelling requires at least one dot in one of the Spheres in the attack and at least one dot in Prime. Both castings must be done within the same turn. By beating the attacker's successes with an Arete roll against difficulty 9, the defender can reflect the attack back at his opponent. Each success over the attacker's counts as one magickal success against her.
Anti-Magick
A mage with Prime 2 or greater may use his own stored Quintessence to counter another's magick. This special defensive measure takes an entire action. Since anti-magick tries to stop reality's disruption, it never generates paradox. This option may also counter an Effect that is not directed at the defending mage.
The mage may spend Quintessence up to his Avatar rating, raising the difficulty of magick in the area by +1 for each point of Quintessence spent, to a maximum of 10. This may exceed the usual +3. The attacker has a chance to counter the defender's Prime Effect by spending Quintessence and Willpower immediately afterwards.
Unweaving
Many magicks are continuous; ward and bans set up magickal barriers which persist until broken, while curses expel their malefic power over time. Although a mystic cannot use countermagick in such cases - unless he was there during the initial casting -he can try to unweave the magick.
To attempt unweaving, a mage must have some basic knowledge of each of the Spheres involved an understanding of the first rank of Prime, so as to see the threads of magickal energy. Unweaving is hard - difficulty 8 - but a mage may make extended rolls until he overcomes each of the caster's initial successes. Unlike other forms of countermagick, Abilities may reduce the difficulty of unweaving rolls. A botch during the process, however, ruins the attempt; the mage must begin again.
Magick on the Forums / Magick Without an Organizer
The lives of mages are full of coincidences. From always entering a room at 13 minutes past the hour to always having the attention of the waiters when you need a refill on your coffee, mages lives can be interesting and easy. These sorts of things are just part and parcel of being a mage, and don't "require" magick. Your character is magick all in herself. We encourage you to have these sorts of coincidences in your character's life. Also consider the flip side: Sure, you always have your coffee refreshed when you need it, but whenever you put down your pen, it disappears.
As for the actual casting of magick, we're allowing anything that can be done with level 1 of a sphere to be done on the forums or in metagaming without requiring organizer intervention. If the information your character is looking for is readily available either to you or to the other players involved, just give out the information without any problems. We have two requests: You bring the magick involved and its results to our attention by highlighting it in the post, and that if we bring up something that your character should have/would have noticed, you run with it.
For example, if Caitlyn comes to Tra'hari complaining about intense pain in her leg after a workout. Tra'hari, being Verbena, does a quick life scan. Both players agree to the magick, and Caitlyn's player advises Tra'hari's that her character has a broken leg. Later, after bringing this to the attention of the organizers, Tom advises them that Tra'hari would have also noticed that Caitlyn is pregnant.
For all magick without an organizer, we do require that you only use magick that you have a rote for. The player that you are working with can demand to see the rote on your character sheet or on a rote card before consenting to the magick. If there are any questions or concerns, please place the scene on hold and contact an organizer.
If the magick is contested (i.e.: Caitlyn doesn't want Tra'hari to do magick, she'd rather he did a regular physical exam), the player who wants to do the magick can do a simple test. Win or tie, their magick succeeds. The "victim" can counter as per usual counter magick rules, but must win the challenge.
If any player does not want the magick to take place without an organizer, then the magick doesn't work until an organizer can be found to do the dice rolls.
Resonance
We have done away with the Attribute effects of resonance. Instead, resonance will affect how your magick works, how much of a "signature" your magick has, and how people who are unAwakened will interact with you. Those with higher resonance will find it harder to do "anonymous" magick, and will find it harder to deal with Sleepers. On the other hand, magick that works well with your resonance will be easier to do.
The theory of Resonance states that just as a mage affects the world with her magick, that magick affects her as well. By wielding her power, she fundamentally changes herself, and a bit of her lingers with the magick. The effect of this Resonance may not be readily discernible in the short term. However, the more powerful you get, the less human you are, and your Resonance will reflect this, such as a Master of Life magick never getting sick, or a Master of Forces whose temper is legendary.
For example, Gabriel Sussex bani Euthanatos had the Resonance trait Entropic: Cold. His hands were always cold. When casting magick that required heat, it typically failed, but his cold spells were overwhelming (and almost killed someone he was trying to help). As time went on, he found it difficult to make emotional attachments to people because of this coldness.
Possible Resonance Traits:
Dynamic traits describe things in motion, change, new ideas, and action. Try traits like Quick, Flashy, Unique, Creative, Spinning, Whirling, Frantic, Frenzied, Intriguing, Liberating or Novel.
Entropic Resonance covers destruction, death, decay, renewal and primordial energy. Use things like Seething, Bubbling, Destructive, Corruption, Withering, Disintegrating, Chaotic, Subtle, Primal or Ravaging.
Static Resonance ties into principles of definition and construction. Good ones include Single Minded, Focused, Intense, Patterned, Tiered, Enfolding, Encompassing, Defined, Programmed or Illuminating.
Seekings
Because this game takes place primarily in the Umbra, your avatar will have more sway than normal. As such, your avatar will be the one deciding when (or if) you'll go on a seeking, not you. You can be dragged into a seeking by your avatar at any time. You may never know you're on a seeking, and just suddenly feel a surge of power, or a slash of loss.
In game mechanics terms, any time you have the required experience (current rating times five), you can be placed on a seeking by the organizers. If you fail, you'll lose half of the required experience OR some permanent traits, either attributes or willpower.
You can opt out of a seeking at any point, which means your character will not be considered for a seeking during the course of the game. If you change your mind, let the organizers know so they can again consider if your avatar is ready.
It's possible that you'll never go on a seeking if the organizers don't think that it's appropriate for your character. Don't hesitate to come to us if you think your character is ready for a seeking. You know him/her better than we do. We may disagree, but we'll definitely take your concerns into consideration.
Do
Do (pronounced "doe") is a special ability that is only available to Akashic mages. It is a separate ability, not a brawl specialization. Non-Akashics and Acolytes cannot learn Do under any circumstances. Akashics can be kicked out of their tradition for attempting to teach it to others.
Please see Do (page XX) for more information.
Health Levels and Recovery Times
Mages are humans, despite having an Awakened Avatar. This means that, without help, they heal like normal humans.
We have altered the healing times and health levels for Untitled. The health levels are: healthy, bruised, bruised, wounded, wounded, wounded, incapacitated, mortally wounded, dead.
Healing from here to next level up takes…
1st bruised 1 hour
2nd bruised 1 day
1st wounded 1 week
2nd wounded 2 weeks
3rd wounded 1 month
incapacitated 2 months
mortally wounded 4 months
So to heal from mortally wounded to fine takes 7 months, 3 weeks, a day and an hour..
Lethal and Aggravated Damage skips healthy and bruised levels and starts at wounded. Healing Aggravated Damage is always vulgar.
Note: Wound penalties do not affect any tests involving Arete or casting Effects, until the mage becomes Incapacitated. A wizard's will is all he needs to make magick, after all, and his will doesn't depend on the flesh for support. Mages who are Incapacitated or Mortally Wounded may attempt to use magick if they're conscious, but they can usually enact only those Effects that deal with healing their wounds and/or escaping the battlefield. (Adapted from Laws of Ascension, page 190)
Experience Costs
The experience costs for Untitled are as follows:
New Attribute (Traits) Target Rating
New Ability Target Rating
New Specialization (in an ability you already have) 1
New Background Target Rating
New Sphere 5
Tradition Specialty Sphere Target Rating * 4
Non-Specialty Sphere Target Rating * 5
Willpower Target Rating
Arete Current Rating * 5
Rote 1
Please see the section on downtime (page XX) for more information about learning times and spending experience.
Optional Rules
This is a list of optional rules that we are using. Please see Laws of Ascension and Companion for more information on these rules.
Laws of Ascension
Ability Specialization Page 95
Attribute Limitations Page 123 We are using a sliding scale as follows:
Primary Attibute: no more than 15 traits in total
Secondary Attribute: no more than 12 traits in total
Tertiary Attribute: no more than 9 traits in total
Using Willpower Page 138 Instead of an additional "grade of success", using willpower is an automatic success on a magick roll. This can be cancelled out with botches, but the worse a character can do is fail, not botch.
Acting in Concert Page 138
Rituals and Extended Magick Page 138 Best used in downtime as opposed to actual events.
Fast-Casting Page 140
Dynamic Magick Page 140
Conjunctional Effects Page 141
Paradox Flaws Page 173
Paradox Realms Page 174
The following are from Laws of Ascension: Companion
Stacking Backgrounds Page 60
No Instant Kills Page 165 The "victim" can relent to being instantly killed.
In order to succeed at killing someone, an organizer must be present (the scene can be placed on hold until an organizer is found) and your character must say "And I kill you." If you beat someone down to mortally wounded "by accident", you leave them with a permanent wound (as per the flaw.)
(Please comment on this section here.)
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
{Rather than post the entirity of the essay here, I'm just going to post our introductory comments, with a link to the actual essay.}
The following essay was taken from Johanna Mead's Unsolicited but Useful Advice for LARPers website. It reflects our opinions about both player and storyteller responsibilities within a LARP. We will be following them to the best of our abilities, and expect the players to do the same.
If you have any questions or concerns about this, please bring them to our attention.
It Takes Two to Tango: Player and Game Master Responsibilities
Taken from http://www.skaro.com/larpresp.html by Johanna Mead
(Please comment on this section here.)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Setting
Does this follow the same "universe" as Fade?
Yes. For a recap, there was no attack on the Twin Towers. There has been several attacks on Canada and U.S. docks and shipping, leading to the same sort of lockdowns and paranoia that our current world has. The current Tradition thinking overall is that the Technocracy is responsible, in a bid to better control the masses. With everyone requiring ID cards, and immigration becoming more and more difficult, it's easier to trace where people are going. However, not everyone agrees with this. Some think it's the Nephandi, some think Marauders (although how any group of them could have stayed organized long enough to do that is a mystery). Others agree with Sleeper government - It really was a terrorist attack, and Mages are just too obsessed with themselves to realize it.
Last year saw an outbreak of a mage-only virus, one that mutated whenever the victim had magick cast on them. Even going near a node could cause more mutations. A chantry in Nova Scotia managed to create a vaccine, and through it eventually a cure. A SoE named "Casey" is listed as creating the cure, although she's disappeared from sight. Not much is known about the details. Within months, the outbreak was contained, although regular screenings are now taking place in major chantries across the world.
In 2006, the next meeting of the Council of Nine Traditions will be held in Horizon. The last meeting, in 1997, had only three attendants. The Hollow Ones also sent representatives, but they were not allowed to participate.
Where does everyone live in game?
You will all be living in the station. Each cabal will have it's own living quarters that open up onto the main living areas. Basically, expect little to no privacy.
Having seen flame wars erupt on forums for every live game I've ever heard of, let me remind you that you'll be living right next store to the person who just called you a stupid bint, so if you want to whap them with the stupid stick, feel free.
If the game is in the umbra, how come there's still vulgar magic and paradox at events?
Our special effects budget is somewhat limited.
There is 'normal' reality inside the station, because most of the magi have been from Earth and will, at least subconsciously, believe that reality. Outside the chantry, they just can't hold on to that belief - the offspring of an octopus and a bicycle flying by kinda throws that off.
Character Creation
Can I play my character from Fade?
No.
But, she/he was really kewl, and I really loved playing him/her, and-
No.
That being said, familiar NPCs may be showing up, and you may hear rumours of the existence of the former PCs. If you want to write in your background that you met the famous Krowsnest, or had your first kiss while listening to DJ Jynx, talk to us about it and we'll see what we can do. But don't hold your breath.
Why would I play an acolyte instead of a mage?
For each hour or downtime turn an acolyte spends assisting with or preparing for a ritual decreases the ritual difficulty by 1.
Acolytes can add their successes to those of the mage they assist for most downtime actions - everything except Seekings, building traits, WP, learning spheres, and casting magic.
Acolytes contribute to the pool of Arete (see step 6 or character creation) but do not draw from it, allowing the Magi in the cabal to have a higher Arete than without an acolyte.
Me and/or my cabal want a Node. What do I need to do to get one?
This would be a good time for a cookie bribe to your organizer.
Nodes are very costly, due to the nature of the game. A node costs double the background points initially, and is doubled again if you chose to make a portable node.
There are also many things you must consider when making a node: Where is it? Who is guarding it when you are away? What does it look like? What resonance is it? What does the tass produced look like? If it's portable, how big is it? How did you get it? Did you steal it from someone who might be looking to get it back? Nodes are a rare and valuable commodity, and you must be prepared to defend it.
How can I gain Quintessence?
Without Prime 3, you can't channel Quintessence from a node or other power source, nor can you transfer Quintessence from another mage. Without Prime 1, you can't hold more Quintessence than your Avatar rating.
Meditating by a node can naturally gain you Quintessence up to your Avatar rating (or higher if you have Prime 1). However, the only power sources available on the station are dedicated towards keeping the station running. Quintessence will not be readily available to you, unless you make other plans.
Rules
What is the difference between Coincidental Magick, Vulgar Without Witness, and Vulgar with Witness, and how will being in the Umbra affect that?
"Coincidental magick: An effect that could be accepted as normal, if unusual, by a mundane observer.
"Vulgar magick: An effect that obviously defies reality as we know it."
(page 161, 2nd edition Mage)
That being said, it always depends on the situation you're in, and what's happened before it. I fall into the category of people who believe you can pull a fifty dollar bill out of your pocket as long as that pocket hasn't been previously noticed as being empty (you pulled it out before to show it's empty).
However, creating that fifty dollar bill in the palm of your hand when sitting alone in the washroom is vulgar without witness. So is doing it in front of a group of mages, or while hanging out with acolytes. However, if your unAware sister walks in the room, be prepared for paradox.
Please note that monitoring equipment does not count as a witness. You can pull that fifty out of thin air in front of a camera and it's just vulgar without.
If you're unclear on a specific effect, talk to the organizers.
Magick in the actual station will (at least initially) follow Earth-standard belief systems. Things that are vulgar on Earth will be vulgar on the station.
There is a section of the station that is being built for "Umbral Reality", but it will take trial and error before your mages will be able to understand "vulgar" and "coincidental" as defined by the realm you're in.
How do I detect magic in action?
You must have Awareness to see effects without actively using magic. Viewing active effects is automatic in combat but requires a mental challenge in non-combat situations. You can only see the effects of spheres you have. If you have Prime but lack the sphere used in the effect, you can determine that there is an effect, but not what spheres it involves. Now that you've determined that there is an effect, determining what it does requires a bit more work.
How does countermagick work?
First, you must detect the incoming effect. See detecting magic in action.
You can counter 1 effect per Awareness level per turn. If you have 3 Awareness, you can counter a maximum of 3 effects that turn. Countering an effect takes your magic action for that round.
When you decide you want to counter an effect, you make a standard magic challenge. The difficulty will vary depending on the situation. Each success you get on this challenge removes one success from the original effect. More powerful effects take more work to counter.
You can only counter spheres you have, except prime - prime magic can counter anything, but takes 2 successes to counter one from an unknown sphere.
Example:
Adam has Arete 3, Awareness 2, Time 2, Correspondence 2, Forces 2, Prime 3.
He can counter 2 effects per round (per Awareness).
He gets jumped by Betty and Charles. Betty uses a Mind 3 effect to confuse him and gets 2 successes. Charles uses a Forces/Prime lightning bolt and zaps him for 3 successes.
Adam is aware of both effects (Prime) and knows what Charles is sending his way (Prime/Forces), but is not sure what Betty is doing against him (no Mind). He does his challenge and spends some quintessence and willpower for 5 successes. He spends 3 against Charles to cancel that effect entirely (he knows what that one does) and spends the last 2 (because he has Prime) against Betty to reduce her effect by 1 success.
Charles' effect fizzles, but Betty's still gets through, although half as potent.
Now that you're doing magick with dice, how will "Multi-tasking" work?
You roll your dice at the difficulty the organizer suggests. Every success you receive is an extra thing you can concentrate on, above anything initially.
What about seekings?
Because this game takes place primarily in the Umbra, your avatar will have more sway than normal. As such, your avatar will be the one deciding when (or if) you'll go on a seeking, not you. You can be dragged into a seeking by your avatar at any time. You may never know you're on a seeking, and just suddenly feel a surge of power, or a slash of loss.
In game mechanics terms, any time you have the required experience (current rating times four), you can be placed on a seeking by the organizers. If you fail, you'll lose half of your experience OR some permanent traits, either attributes or willpower.
It's possible that you'll never go on a seeking if the organizers don't think that it's appropriate for your character. Don't hesitate to come to us if you think your character is ready for a seeking. You know him/her better than we do. We may disagree, but we'll definitely take your concerns into consideration.
But I don't want to go on a Seeking. I don't want to risk the XP/attributes!
Tell the organizers as soon as you realize you don't want to go on a Seeking. You can opt out. You can also opt back in at any time. Keep us updated to your thoughts and opinions on this. If you don't opt out, we'll consider you opted in, and willing to have a Seeking whenever you Avatar deems it necessary.
When are downtime turns due? What happens if they're late?
They are due no later than the 2nd Thursday of every month. We will not be accepting late submissions.
How do I submit downtime?
Option 1 - Submit your downtime electronically via the handy downtime submission form: http://www3.telus.net/public/dexx4d/downtime.html
Option 2 - Write up your downtime on the sheets provided at game, and submit them physically to the organizers.
When will results be handed back to players?
Downtimes will be electronically handed out the Wednesday before game day. That is, you'll receive an email with your results. You will also receive a hard copy on Thursday, assuming the organizers see you. If the organizers don't see you, a hard copy will be handed out at the event as well.
I want to kill a character!
First, talk to an Organizer. Let us know in advance so we can help you with any planning. We may also try to discourage you. Just a heads up there.
Second, they don't die unless you say, "...and I kill you!" when they're at Mortally Wounded. Otherwise, they're just unconscious until someone comes along to heal them. Please remember that it can take them over 7 months to heal, so this can be a major disadvantage if you leave them alive.
I want to kill a player!
Welcome to the club, but we aren't adding anyone else to the organizing staff at this time.
My character is being ignored by the rest of my Tradition. Everything I've tried to do has ended badly. I want a new character.
Everybody hates me because I did something stupid. I want a new character.
I've been killed. I want a new character.
Due to the nature of the game, we will not be allowing any new characters in until six months of game time.
Game Events - OOC Rules
How much will each event cost? Will you be doing donations again?
After much discussion, we've determined we can't afford to run a game by donation. Each event will cost 5$, unless otherwise noted.
I'm a LRPS member. Do I get to pay less?
No. Our benefit to LRPS members is extra downtime actions. They get 3 extra actions above any other bonuses. Please see the section on downtime for more information.
I don't think/know I can't afford 5$ this month. What should I do?
If you let us know well in advance (at least 1 week), we can work something out. We can always use a hand and we'll find some way you can help us out instead of giving cash. But it is a requirement that you talk to us first.
If you show up at the door and can't pay, we won't turn you away. But you get one "freebie" - we'll still want an IOU for that event. We're going to be a bit stricter on this than we have in the past - we can't afford to lose over a hundred dollars a game any more. If you show up at the door and cannot pay a second time, you'll be welcomed in to enjoy your last game - your character will be 'recalled' back to earth, and your cabal will be short one member.
Why are you using dice for magic?
Because the White Wolf live rules for magic suck. This is how we're working around them.
How much experience is each event worth? What other ways can I gain experience?
You get 1 point for showing up, and an additional point if you show up on time. There is one point for submitting your downtime turn on time. You can also earn 1 XP for submitting a 250 - 500 word summary of the event from your character's POV, to be put on the website.
What happens if I can't attend a game?
Please develop an in character reason for your character's absence. Maybe you were called away to Earth, maybe you're sick, maybe you're on a secret mission for the government that you can't discuss. Let us know in advance, if possible.
Yes, things come up at the last minute, and games are definitely less important than Real Life. If you can, do call us so we're not worried about you, and can make your excuses to your cabal.
Can I bring my sword/crossbow/knife/realistic gun prop/chainsaw to the game?
No.
What is the policy on weapon props? I don't want to bring my knife, I want to bring my fake knife.
Any and all weapons props must be approved by a Storyteller before entering the site. Anything considered a weapon, you will be asked to leave outside of the site. The Storyteller's word is final as to what is considered a weapon. Our preference is plastic. Your weapons don't need to look fake, but we don't really want to be on A Channel's news, either.
I can't tell if the person I'm communicating with on the Forums is too busy to respond, or his character is ignoring me. What should I do?
We are encouraging people to indicate that their character is not responding to a post or an email by replying with no response. If you've waited a week and this has yet to be posted/emailed to you, post a quick reminder to them that you're waiting. If they still haven't responded, assume it's an OOC issue (school, work, broken computer) and wait it out.
One of the players can't spell. Can I please have access to their posts to edit their spelling?
No. The people who have difficulties spelling know they have that problem, and there's no need to harp on them for it. All I can suggest is that players who are concerned about their spelling download ieSpell, from http://www.iespell.com/, as it has a built in spell checker.
Is there anything else I should keep in mind?
Remember that your characters will not be interacting very often (if at all) with Sleepers or the Unaware. Go all out on your costuming! Be a Hermetic with long flowing robes and a pointy hat. Be a Cultist in the flashiest clothes that XXI Forever will get you. Go nuts with your SoE, complete with Ether Goggles and Proton Pack. Have fun with the costuming! Don't be limited by what's "normal", because face it: You're in the Umbra.
Are you people nuts?
Yes.
(Please comment on this section here.)
So... long....
I want to take this opportunity to thank Tom, Kris, and Matthew for their contributions to this guide. Each of them helped with ideas, comments, brain storming, and general support. Their fingerprints are all over this thing. Thanks, guys.
Check out the whole thing in rtf format here