[Mage: the Awakening] Legacy of the Stone Assembly

I found a couple of reference PDFs that you guys may find useful. One's a cheat sheet for all kinds of stuff, the other is very similar to the link Solarious provided, but it goes up to 5 dots in each Arcanum. Enjoy!

Did the spirit just completely ignore what Prometheus said?

Complete oversight on my part; I got so caught up in responding to the out-of-character part that I missed the in-character bit. Sorry!

Wow. Shayuri, you just ended that scene with the best possible inner monologue. Bonus experience for you!

Everyone gets...

• 1 experience point for playing.
• 1 point for good roleplaying--I saw a lot of interesting choices coming through from everyone, and some fun friction between personality types. Keep it up!
• 1 point of arcane experience for your first encounter with a spirit of the Alpha.
• Thorn gets 1 additional experience point for a great post to end the scene.

Additionally, post what your character learned in this scene here for a chance at a Learning Curve point. This is not automatic, so put some thought into it, please.

Now that we've finished the first scene of the game, you can go ahead and adjust your character sheets around if there are things you'd like to change. Try not to make the changes too major: if you weren't able to see spirits before, it doesn't make much sense to retcon three dots in the Spirit Arcanum. PM or post your updated, refashioned, experience-added character sheets when you're ready!

Well, as far as learning things:
Prometheus has discovered the trail that will eventually lead him to his reunion with Charles.

Or, if you are talking about more academic things, Prometheus has learned about spirits and bans, and has the idea that if a spirit is shown its ban, it will 'die'.

On another note:
Should you put some sort of in character refusal from Gabriel as to why his character will not be joining. And what about Solarious?

Good! You have earned your Learning Curve point.

I'll leave it up to you three, Magic, Shayuri, and BlueLotus, to decide what we'll do with Gabriel. He can live on as a resource, hanging around your Sanctum, providing counsel on things he knows about (Theology and Spirits being specialties of his). I can run him as a GMPC, if you like, but he won't be solving any mysteries or having any of the crucial insights that decide the storyline. Or he can go on his merry way, and I'll find a way to have him gracefully bow out/get abducted by Scelesti and go stark raving mad.

Same will apply to Jeremiah, unless Solarious is coming back.

Though Thorn was warned by her mentor, what she's taken away from this experience is:

1) Mages are -different-. This has been her first real exposure to mages outside of her own tradition, and she could barely understand some of them. Prometheus talks like a Shakespeare play half the time (exaggeration of course, Magic ), and Lotus is so quiet...

2) For all the high talking and haunted houses, mages are basically people, and they follow the same basic law people follow. The law of the jungle. The ones on top are there because they fought tooth and nail to get there, and that journey made them hard and ruthless bastards. That doesn't mean they're homicidal or psycho. It just means working with them is like riding a tiger. Face forward, lie low, and do not fall off/. Ancillary rules: They don't want to be your friend...if they act like they do, it's because they want something from you. Use that. Also, the bigger the reward offered, the bigger the risk you'll be taking. Might be worth it, but only if you watch your arse.

Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Dealing With Wizards I Learned In A Street Gang.

As for our AWOLers...I'm leery of "PC" NPC's. I like characters to really be connected to the story if they're to exist at all. If they're not really connected to the story...why are they there? If we need info, let us consult contacts and mentors. If we need help...hey, maybe an ally, or some other story element.

Anyway, it's not a big deal overall. Just an aesthetic thing.

Thorn also earns her Learning Curve point!

Shayuri said:

As for our AWOLers...I'm leery of "PC" NPC's. I like characters to really be connected to the story if they're to exist at all. If they're not really connected to the story...why are they there? If we need info, let us consult contacts and mentors. If we need help...hey, maybe an ally, or some other story element.

Anyway, it's not a big deal overall. Just an aesthetic thing.

Click to expand...

I completely agree--there's a reason DMPC is a dirty word (acronym?). In any game, the players need to be the center of the action, and DMPCs get in the way most of the time.

Yeah, I was thinking that you would have put in some refusal on their part to even join the cabal with the rest of us, Gabriel saying that he already had access to those things through his mentor. As for Jeremiah, I think we should give him longer, because he usually just takes a bit to post, but at some point let him go as well. That being said, if we do get down to three, should we contact Walking Dad? I mean, I'm not too sure about WoD, but in D&D the party always worked best with four people.

Also, thanks for the hint about what to look for Hella!

[sblock=Joseph Faust]
Real Name: Joseph Faust
Shadow Name: Prometheus
Concept: Blind Leading Blind

Age: 25
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Grey

Place of Birth: Wheelright, Massachusetts
Relatives: Emily Faust (mother), Robert Faust (father)
Mentor: Charles Walker (real name unknown, (Forces Space Ruling), Tremere Lich)
Marital Status: Not attached

Occupation: Graduate History Student (University of Massachusetts)
Current Residence: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Virtue: Fortitude
Vice: Pride (Vanity)

Ruling: Prime, Mind
Inferior: Life
Order: none yet

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 5

Mental Skills: Academics (History) 3, Occult(Resonance) 5, Politics 2
Physical Skills: Drive 1, Athletics 1, Survival 1, Weaponry 1
Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Subterfuge 2, Empathy 1, Expression 2, Persuasion 2

Health: 8
Willpower: 7
Wisdom: 7
XP: 3 and 1 arcane

Size: 5
Speed: 8
Initiative: 7
Defense: 2
Armor:

Gnosis: 3
Mana: 1 (max: 12, 3/turn) (3 tass in wand)
Pattern: Restoration (1/day), Scouring (1/day)
Nimbus: Afraid to stray to far from his person

Arcana: Mind 2, Prime 3, time 1

Rote Specialties: None
Rotes: None
Dedicated Magical Tool: The handle of King Solomon's Bronze jar (doesn't have one at the moment, but would like this)
Enchanted Items: Single Use wand of counterspell (made of Tass)

Mage Merits: 1 to shared hallow
Social Merits:

[sblock=Background]
Born in a small rural town, Joseph found himself totally unprepared for awakening. It wasn't until college that he fully understood or could control his powers, and in that manner they remained a secret.

He used his status as a history major at UMass to research all things arcane, using all resources he could get his hands on at the library there. During his studies, he found another who shared his interests, Charles Walker, and the two grew fairly close. One day, Joseph entered Charles' study unanounced, only to find the other moving books around magically. Delighted at knowing another like himself, Joseph told Charles everything about his limited mystical career. In turn, Charles taught Joseph some of what he knew of magic.

Joseph learned much over the course of his time with Charles, learning about the essence of magic, Prime, Mind, and Time. However, he learned nothing of paradox, cabals, or orders. Only through natural caution did he not suffer from the first, nor the attention of the other two.

However, when graduation came around Charles had gained entry into the Tremere. Through his true name, Charles has repeatedly attacked Joseph, and only through luck has he survived thus far. Recently, Joseph has hidden his trail from Charles, but the problem remains unresolved. Daily wards from scrying are all that separate him from his predator.

Through his experience with Charles, Joseph learned the rudiments of magic, but his knowledge is incomplete at best. He depends mostly on his sheer power to perform spells, in a way that other mages might describe as brutish. Pushing spells through carelessly, many of his spells go awry. Furthermore, his knowledge of true magic is blended in with his knowledge of the occult in general (he can't read high atlantean). Still to suffer from a paradox, he has no qualms about casting spells when he needs to. Only his natural caution, and his fear of Charles, stay his hand.

Since then, he has experimented with Sleepers, attempting to figure out the things that go with awakening. As of yet, he has had no success. In fact, he has yet to witness an awakening other than his own. In the cabal, he hopes to find out something of awakening from the other members, and to apply it to his study of sleepers.

He chose Prometheus as a shadow name to finally hide his true name, only several days before he joined the cabal. He chose it to represent giving 'fire', or magic, to the sleepers. In reality, its meaning more closely resembles 'forethought' of awakening a personal army.[/sblock]
[sblock=chronicle so far]
As a trial by the Nemean, Promeheus (partnered with thorn) encountered a really sad child ghost who likely had his soul sucked out by the tremere lich whos aura tainted the room. He also encountered a random succubus, who he never saw, and was not actually affected by. Then there was the first spirit of alpha. He seemed quite out of it, but vanished utterly at pictures of real places in 'beta'.
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