As the title says - I want to celebrate my B-day by basking in creativity of fellow ttrpg enjoyer, and since I am prepping a modern-day (as in 2025) Mage campaign right now, I am asking you to share any ideas for such game - plot hooks, npcs, antagonists, any bit of inspiration that comes to your mind is welcome
In a stunning turn of events, the Void Engineers were kicked out of the Technocracy, and the Virtual Adepts were welcomed back. The VE took the VA's seat at the Council of Nine. Those VE still seen as loyal to the Paridigm were absorbed into the Syndicate. Old school VA were absorbed into the Society of Ether.
English college engineering students on holiday discover a secret lab in a sub-basement belonging to a physicist only known as "Mr. Cavor" and within, find the formula to Cavorite, a material that negates the force of gravity. Studying Cavor's notes cause their Avatars to Awaken, and they are able to not only produce the stuff, but create an aircraft, in strict defiance of the Technocracy's paradigm.
The students whereabouts are unknown, but sightings of their airship persist around the globe. Meanwhile, they published their notes on the internet, and Iteration X is having a devil of a time trying to erase all the evidence (no doubt thanks to Virtual Adept interference, perhaps with the help of Glass Walker Monkeywrenchers). Naturally, the Sons of Ether want to bring these Orphans into the fold- Cavor was one of their order, after all, who landed on the Moon long before the Void Engineers- or did he?
Players could take on the role of the pursuers or the pursued, who may find themselves traveling to Luna and discovering the true origins of the Selenites, who or whatever they were/are. Or maybe they end up in the Dreaming, as Cavorite was actually stolen from a group of Nockers!
In a stunning turn of events, the Void Engineers were kicked out of the Technocracy, and the Virtual Adepts were welcomed back. The VE took the VA's seat at the Council of Nine. Those VE still seen as loyal to the Paridigm were absorbed into the Syndicate. Old school VA were absorbed into the Society of Ether.
Wouldn't Iteration X be a better fit for Void Engineers? Space folks these days tend to be all about building engines and robots and such, which seems closer to Iteration X than the business focus of the Syndicate.
I ran a MtA game set near a college campus, in an old house with numerous tenants of different ages, which draws no attention in that part of town.
The plot was a pastiche of published adventures i strung together, the main one is MTAs Chaos Factor, except removing the worst character.
I used 2 NPCs to help massage things in place before Chaos Factor. I ran 3ish arcs prior to establish backstory and relationships.
The first is Merlin, the historic Merlin...sort of. Merlin is a mage who Awakened moments before the end of the universe, as Time itself was broken. He has the ability to travel backwards in time, changing the path of history, shifting the End of All. He does it again, and again, moving the End, his own personal timeline shifting around, but he's always right there, Awakening just as the Wyrm breaks the Weave.
But...he can't be in the same place twice, so he pops in, gives advice, and vanishes. Occasionally he drags people around in time. He can't teach time travel...but a Mage who accrues a large amount of Paradox while time-shifted can be blasted to near the time they left.
He pops in with information he collected from the future to get the PCs to do whatever needs doing to shift the apocalypse.
The other one has to be used sparingly. It is Cain. Yes, that Cain, cursed by Jehova to suffer forever. Cain is burned by the sun, running water washes away his flesh, the touch of his feet to soil is like iron spikes. Except he can never die and doesn't even get to sleep. A mark on his forehead causes all to forget him. If he harms anyone, he feels twenty times their pain.*
But in my cosmology, Cain didn't create vampires on purpose. A demon pretending to be an angel convinced a group of priests (great-great-grand neices & nephews) that Cain was still alive only because Jehova was waiting for the righteous to smite him. When they fell on Cain, the curse of Jehova struck them, the demon possessed them and they became vampires. This happened waaaaaaaay back in time.
He ran across Jesus. He couldn't forgive Cain, Jehova's wrath and all, but if Cain can get all the demon-possessed vampires off Earth before the Apocalypse then Cain would be allowed into Heaven at the end times.
So the PCs will get odd bits of advice regarding vampires from random people they never meet again. Or rather, one person they can never correctly remember and keep misattributing.
Except when it's the last time you're going to use him, and they remember all those past instances were Cain.
Yes, those two cosmologies in direct conflict, but I'm a-ok with it.
ChaosFactor changes
there is no Haigt. It's a person who wants to be turned into a powerful vampire by Huitzilopoctoli in the temple underground.
Cain wants the methuselah to come out and get killed. See the * on Cain hurting people doesn't apply to demons or demon-possessed corpses, so he can only get out all his aggression & frustration while beating on vampires.
Merlin is trying to keep the methuselah from going on a blood-frenzy, creating hundreds of low-generation vampires which is the Apocalypse trigger du jour.
So Cain can tank, taking all the methuselah's abuse, while the PCs whittle him down. Use the various other characters in the adventure as needed to give the PCs a real chance.
I recommend having Merlin time shift them forward a month at the start, so if a Pac winds up bursting with Paradox, the PCs can be punted back in time to heal up and prep.
Just remember, they can't exist in the same time twice, so once they reach the moment where Merlin landed them, they skip forward to the fight with Huitzilopoctoli.
Wouldn't Iteration X be a better fit for Void Engineers? Space folks these days tend to be all about building engines and robots and such, which seems closer to Iteration X than the business focus of the Syndicate.
That makes sense, though IIRC Men in Black in Mage are specifically a New World Order thing, keeping Sleepers unaware of the wider goings-on using mind control and propaganda.
I ran a MtA game set near a college campus, in an old house with numerous tenants of different ages, which draws no attention in that part of town.
The plot was a pastiche of published adventures i strung together, the main one is MTAs Chaos Factor, except removing the worst character.
I used 2 NPCs to help massage things in place before Chaos Factor. I ran 3ish arcs prior to establish backstory and relationships.
The first is Merlin, the historic Merlin...sort of. Merlin is a mage who Awakened moments before the end of the universe, as Time itself was broken. He has the ability to travel backwards in time, changing the path of history, shifting the End of All. He does it again, and again, moving the End, his own personal timeline shifting around, but he's always right there, Awakening just as the Wyrm breaks the Weave.
But...he can't be in the same place twice, so he pops in, gives advice, and vanishes. Occasionally he drags people around in time. He can't teach time travel...but a Mage who accrues a large amount of Paradox while time-shifted can be blasted to near the time they left.
He pops in with information he collected from the future to get the PCs to do whatever needs doing to shift the apocalypse.
The other one has to be used sparingly. It is Cain. Yes, that Cain, cursed by Jehova to suffer forever. Cain is burned by the sun, running water washes away his flesh, the touch of his feet to soil is like iron spikes. Except he can never die and doesn't even get to sleep. A mark on his forehead causes all to forget him. If he harms anyone, he feels twenty times their pain.*
But in my cosmology, Cain didn't create vampires on purpose. A demon pretending to be an angel convinced a group of priests (great-great-grand neices & nephews) that Cain was still alive only because Jehova was waiting for the righteous to smite him. When they fell on Cain, the curse of Jehova struck them, the demon possessed them and they became vampires. This happened waaaaaaaay back in time.
He ran across Jesus. He couldn't forgive Cain, Jehova's wrath and all, but if Cain can get all the demon-possessed vampires off Earth before the Apocalypse then Cain would be allowed into Heaven at the end times.
So the PCs will get odd bits of advice regarding vampires from random people they never meet again. Or rather, one person they can never correctly remember and keep misattributing.
Except when it's the last time you're going to use him, and they remember all those past instances were Cain.
Yes, those two cosmologies in direct conflict, but I'm a-ok with it.
ChaosFactor changes
there is no Haigt. It's a person who wants to be turned into a powerful vampire by Huitzilopoctoli in the temple underground.
Cain wants the methuselah to come out and get killed. See the * on Cain hurting people doesn't apply to demons or demon-possessed corpses, so he can only get out all his aggression & frustration while beating on vampires.
Merlin is trying to keep the methuselah from going on a blood-frenzy, creating hundreds of low-generation vampires which is the Apocalypse trigger du jour.
So Cain can tank, taking all the methuselah's abuse, while the PCs whittle him down. Use the various other characters in the adventure as needed to give the PCs a real chance.
I recommend having Merlin time shift them forward a month at the start, so if a Pac winds up bursting with Paradox, the PCs can be punted back in time to heal up and prep.
Just remember, they can't exist in the same time twice, so once they reach the moment where Merlin landed them, they skip forward to the fight with Huitzilopoctoli.
I left out the bit where Merlin has to take people forward to the Apocalypse first, then backwards in time. Which gives opportunities for the Wyrm to have conversations with PCs. Time and space are broken so such things can happen simultaneously and in private.
Other small bits
All the "senior" members of the coven live nearby and use the house as their lab/greenhouse/library/etc. Some work at the college in various roles, helping to identify pre-awakened.
The house has one resident techno-type, an internet addicted-shut in who only communicates through the home intercom. His name is Linus and every time he 'coms, it has an audio cue of the "linus & Lucy" riff (da-da-dun-dadada-da-da). He is never seen and the PCs may come to suspect he is a spirit/AI/ghost in the machine/quadriplegic. Linus enjoys this and will never reject nor deny any theory.
The house has a basement full of "thesis projects" from prior students, mostly the handful of trchnology-centric types whose work is not appreciated by the sorcery/granola crowd, but also some "too fragile to use except in emergencies" or "too useful to destroy but too many undesirable side effects to use on a regular basis" objects. This gives you a pile of Harry Potter-esque whatsits to place out there.
For fun be sure to have the warning labels damaged, illegible, or lost. If possible try to get a PC to accidentally make a few vanish. One of mine replaces the old sheets covering the machines with new ones and at least one taped-on warning sign went with the old sheet.
* an old tube TV that can display any movie, even the ones never made, but the commercials & news breaks are for other dimensions & times, and are often disturbing. The picture quality gets better the longer you watch it and the screen grows. A safety frame is built around it to power it down at 79" in size. No one is sure what would happen at 80".
TV-based teleporter, but it only works with analog tube TVs set to a "static" channel and you crawl out the tv. If the teleporter got turned on/left on accidentally, the infinite-movie TV has mice come out occasionally as they change channels. Depending on how long the a creature was in static-space, there can be side effects. You can have fun with Poltergeist/The Ring esque events from something/someone trapped inside. Maybe it's Linus.
there was an art thing (an easel? Chisel? ) but I can't remember that one.
