Mage - The Spiral [OoC]

[Fanog]

"I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human."

Mage - The Spiral
A game about modern-day magic, endless possibilities, philosophy, power and pride.

___

Three of the original players of this game have had to drop due to real-life business. Two of them have recently been replaced by alternates, but there is still one position open. If you'd like to play in a rules-light game of Mage: the Ascension, post a message in this thread and you're in. I'm only looking for one player more, so the first person to respond gets the position. In the first few posts of this thread, you can find some more information about the game. You can also read the IC thread to get a feeling for the style I'm running.

Fanog
___

Introduction
Magic is real. It is created by the desire to change reality, and it opens up infinite possibilities for those who know that reality is only bound by the will of the people who live in it. Each of the six billion people on this earth is shaping reality, shaping it to their ideas of what is possible and what isn't. However, the vast majority of the people don't realize the extent of the power they could hold. Only a few Awakened ones have this knowledge.
Mages from one side, known as the Traditions, wish to educate and enlighten people, to open up the realm of magic to everyone. The other side, known as the Technocracy, wishes to shelter people for their own good. They will allow humankind to live in a safe world, where all of their needs are already provided for, where humankind doesn't have to worry about magic and about desires to change anything.

The Technocracy is winning...

People don't believe in magic anymore, and don't care as long as they have a job, a 24/7 on the corner of the street and more than 30 television channels to chose from.

Even though mankind has rejected magic, the Traditions still fight to prevent magic from being lost completely. While doing battle with the Technocracy, each Tradition mage also does battle with himself. Each is trying to gain a better insight in the workings of reality, to gain knowledge and power while avoiding the pitfalls of pride. Mages walk a fine line, trying to regain a bit of ground in the struggle for humankind's fate.

Rules
This game will use the Mage rules, by White Wolf. I'm using second Edition rules, but toher deitions would be fine too. You don't even need the book as a player. In fact, you don't even need any knowledge prior of Mage.
To keep the focus on the mystery and 'uniqueness' of magic and on the story, I'd like to handle most of the rules myself. Magic isn't about lists and tables, but about imagination and desire. For that reason, I'll keep the rules for magic as 'invisible' as possible. They're there, but you don't get to see them often. You don't have to worry about them mostly. I hope that's okay with everyone.

Characters
All mages Awaken at some point in their life. In one instant, they learn that there is more to reality than they knew, and that they have the ability to change things by wanting it so.
There are usually some occurrences that lead up to this awakening, a vague feeling that there something isn't right, that there are things that cannot be explained by modern thinking etc. The experiences that a person has prior to Awakening will always have a powerful influence on that person's view of magic, and on the things that she is able to do with her magic. These ideas will eventually become the Mage's Paradigm, her view of the world that let's her work magic. This Paradigm is really the focal point of magic. By carefully constructing and believing in a different reality, the Mage is able to live by the rules of this different reality, instead of by those from 'normal' reality.
All characters will start as normal people. They haven't Awakened yet, but they are close to it. The beginning of the game will focus on the Awakening, and on constructing a Paradigm and how to work magic. The character will get to know each other either during or after this introduction, when they take up their place in the struggle against the Technocracy while continuing their studies of magic and reality.

Submissions
I'm looking for five players who would like to participate in this game. As I said, prior knowledge of Mage isn't necessary. All I'm requiring is that you invest the time to create a consistent Paradigm for your character through play, and take the time to delve into the details of this magic. This may seem pretty daunting, but I will help you develop the character where necessary. Most of this will happen in-game, where you will be taught and aided by mentors etc.
To keep the game going, I also require players to post about once each day.

To apply for this game, please send me the following, either through e-mail or in a post on this thread:
- A short background for the character you'd like to play.
- A short description of the character's world view, especially where it differs from what other (normal) people think. This will largely determine how your magic will manifest. Think wide, there are lots of possibilities. Examples could be a witch, spirit speaker or priest, but also a developer of virtual reality, a philosopher, martial artist etc. Anything that is considered impossible by the general populace could be considered a kind of magic, and might be the focus for a Mage character.
- How often you expect to post.

If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them. Please post them here or send me an e-mail. Also, when needed, I could give people some pointers on where to dig up inspiration about Mage, just let me know.
I'll keep this thread open for two weeks, and then decide on players.

Good luck on creating characters, I'm curious to see what you all come up with.

Fanog

 

[loxmyth]

As I said in the other thread, I'd be interested in playing! I am generally on and can post everyday on the weekdays and sometimes on the weekend.

Currently, I'm thinking of making an artist type who uses drawings and paintings to work his mojo. He's quite used to exercising his creativity and imagination to create worlds that don't exist, and he'll bring that over to his shaping of reality. I'll mull over the specifics for a bit, but that's the basic idea I have right now. Let me know if this won't fit your campaign, and I'll change it around.

Now to think on the details...

 

[Fanog]

I like it. Sounds excellent.

Fanog

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I'm still interested, but don't have any solid character ideas yet. In the past I've been used to thinking in terms of Tradition, for this we'll obviously want to focus more on the character's mortal side and think about how the character would eventually end up doing magic; sort of a ground-up approach. Not that any of this is bad, mind you.

I'm curious as to what sort of mindset you're expecting from the characters. Even if they're not mystically inclined (priest, shaman, etc), do we still want them to be looking for some sort of transcendental experience, looking for something "Other" in life? I guess I'm thinking of characters who would already be inclined toward Awakening and using magic vs. those who are just sort of blindsided by it, and I'm wondering if you have any thoughts or preferences.

 

[Fanog]

I'd prefer a character who already has a hunch. I think it's very important that magic stems from a desire to alter things. Because of that, I think it would be easier to play someone who is looking for something, than someone to whom magic just happens.

Also, you could already pick a Tradition and works backwards a bit. By knowing where the character will eventually end up, it might be easier to pick a starting point. Think about the things that might lead a character to that Tradition and that style of magic...

HTH.

Fanog

 

[Dalamar]

I'm thinking of making somebody who is low on the social status, sweating two shifts on a construction site to pay his rent and fill his stomach. And the only thing he wants, and he really wants it, is that something would change and he wouldn't have to tear his palms on crude tools every day. And one day it happens...

I have a pretty consistent posting time of at least once per day, but that often changes due to school or other projects I get involved with.

Also, I'm willing to step aside if people who aren't in any game yet want to play. This because I'm already in a slew of D&D games here on the boards.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Ok, I think I'm getting somewhere with a concept. Bear with me, this may seem a little odd at first.

I originally wanted an upper-class, professional type of character to make a change from the more sort of generic fringe/subculture Tradition mage. And not one that's Order of Hermes, either, since they seem to be the only ones with bank accounts (at least in the supplements).

I was also mulling over the whole "on the brink of Awakening" thing, and having characters that were more receptive to magic in their lives. So I thinking about someone who was raised in an occult tradition within his family- not an actual mage Tradition (some ancestors may have been), but a family that had been in a certain secret society for hundres of years, or traced their ancestry back to ancient druids and were still secretly following old pagan practices.

So, combining these two, the character I have in mind is a younger member of a family of occultists and hedge mages. The character himself would something of a dilettante, living on old money and just sort of dabbling in academia, finances, whatever. The family could be associated with the Arcanum or something similar, or they could just be isolated eccentrics, everyone practising "magic" and studying esoteric lore in an almost Addams-family kind of way. I don't have any single real tradition in mind for the family to be practising, more of a Golden Dawn sort of hodgepodge.

The thing is, the family would consider themselves "wizards" but of course would really just be hedge magicians, following the same formulas and rituals they have for hundreds of years (and not getting much result, either). The character's Awakening would come from realizing that he doesn't have follow all the family rites and moldy old books, but is more capable of winging things- that he can still do magic by just combining certain things together on an intuitive level, sort of re-creating the old rituals. Various members of the family, of course, may or may not approve of this.

Still no real thoughts on tradition, since it will largely depend on what my paradigm and style end up being. Since I'm going to be sort of "recreating the old from the new", I would probably be suited toward the more open traditions instead of something like the Order or the Chorus.

The problem I'm having right now is that all the Traditions end up being sort of one-dimensional; of neccesity, really, since changing reality is hard and it helps to have a solid framework. The trick is that what I've described above doesn't really fit into any of the Tradition paradigms, except as maybe a really liberal Hermetic. Orphan would work, but I've never really liked them as a concept. So I haven't really attached this idea to any of the traditions yet.

Are we still going to be set in England? The character was going to be British irregardless, since it seems to fit the whole family of occultists concept.

Does all this sound ok, or is it too out-there?

 

[kuroshidaku]

I'm interested in playing.

I'm thinking of a intellegent, reclusive type. Not happy with current life, wants to leave the life he's living for something else. His dreams as extremely vivid, about flying over a forest. He has a feeling he's different from everyone else, but no idea why.

No tradition in magic, his family are all totally normal, except for him. Sometimes he can predict things, not big things, but enough to know its not chance.

Often he looks into himself, trying to find why he feels he's different. His awakening will come when he finds the reason.

He is a scientific type, no religious beliefs, but this doesn't stop him from wondering why things happern.

I can probably post once a day.

 

[Fanog]

Dalamar,

sound nice, I could definately work with that. Any idea where the character will go, or would you just let that up to the in-game events?

Byron's Ghost,

the concepts sounds nice, seems like a natural to becoming a Mage, and an interesting family conflict could erupt.
There isn't a definate stage for the campaign, character can be from everywhere. England would be fine to be from.

Kuroshidaku,

any ideas on the magic this character will be able to do? How will it manifest, in general?

Fanog

 

[Dalamar]

Most likely I'd see where he ends up, I like to have my characters have their own free will, so to speak.
Though I'd imagine him advancing in the Matter sphere, trying to transcend what has confined him.