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Mar. 9th, 2008 10:49 am
Mage: The Awakening - The Plot Begins
Last night was an excellent run at Mage, and we kicked off things to a mysterious and plot hooked filled night. I'd thought I'd be a bit rusty in my RP, but nope, it was spot on when I started trying to convey things to people. Overall it was light, and fun. Which is pretty much what I'm aiming for here. I think on paper the rules are going to sort themselves out. I always tend to focus more on story than on rules in my games and this pays off quite a bit.
Last night was no exception. I think at the start of the evening there was a brief rules misunderstanding on what spells someone could, or could not cast. Essentially, in D&D terms every person in the game of Mage is a sorcerer. They can do whatever level one spells they want as long as they have one dot in that arcanum (school of magic) and I think people did not realize that. A rote is a spell that is a tested formula - but usually only becomes a rote when an order or some scholar has put it to paper. Most have not done that with spells mainly b/c rotes are powerful bits of data. Not everyone is gonna learn 'the good stuff' because each order has its secrets.
From what I gather some may have thought they were limited to casting rotes only, and not the other spells. All other non-rote spells are improvised spells, and while they are more expensive, and more reckless to cast, everyone has more of them to cast. Overall once I cleared that rules misconception up, everything was golden.
The plot itself went a lot smoother. Everyone garnered information that was at the session - and we were down two people this evening, but it still turned out magnificently. Initially I had planned to spread the data among my six players more, but since I was running four people only when the 'big data' about the chronicle started coming down, I compressed it a lot. So basically I used some 'Dan ex Machina' to get people what they were going to need rather quickly.
I have more to study on this game as I want to know more about it very much so. These next few weeks will be dedicated to learning it, fleshing out my story, and making a chronicle that people will want to come back for. I might be incorporating some props at one point!
Last night was no exception. I think at the start of the evening there was a brief rules misunderstanding on what spells someone could, or could not cast. Essentially, in D&D terms every person in the game of Mage is a sorcerer. They can do whatever level one spells they want as long as they have one dot in that arcanum (school of magic) and I think people did not realize that. A rote is a spell that is a tested formula - but usually only becomes a rote when an order or some scholar has put it to paper. Most have not done that with spells mainly b/c rotes are powerful bits of data. Not everyone is gonna learn 'the good stuff' because each order has its secrets.
From what I gather some may have thought they were limited to casting rotes only, and not the other spells. All other non-rote spells are improvised spells, and while they are more expensive, and more reckless to cast, everyone has more of them to cast. Overall once I cleared that rules misconception up, everything was golden.
The plot itself went a lot smoother. Everyone garnered information that was at the session - and we were down two people this evening, but it still turned out magnificently. Initially I had planned to spread the data among my six players more, but since I was running four people only when the 'big data' about the chronicle started coming down, I compressed it a lot. So basically I used some 'Dan ex Machina' to get people what they were going to need rather quickly.
I have more to study on this game as I want to know more about it very much so. These next few weeks will be dedicated to learning it, fleshing out my story, and making a chronicle that people will want to come back for. I might be incorporating some props at one point!
