[Mage: The Awakening v1.9] Game Hax: Magic is Hard!

((Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Chronicles of Darkness (nWoD 2e) - Mage: The Awakening (Fallen World Chronicle)

Authored by Jerad Sayler, Chronicle Storyteller))

Mage: The Awakening v1.9 – “Experience System”

Rules Supplement for Mage II: The Dethroned Queen
Supplement to First Draft by Chronicle Storyteller Jerad Sayler on 22 Oct 2015 found HERE.

Experience Game Hax: Magic is Hard!

So, in light of our most recent story arc "Patchwork" performed by Hannah Nyland (The Irreverent Revenant)  and starring Eos, Jack Bismuth, Ka'Karifiers, Ikiyouyou, Reaper, and Chimera, we have uncovered a few things with the 1.9 system we want to tweak.  

Game growth and balance is a very difficult thing.  We loved the new Chronicles of Darkness Beat system and how it lets us grow dynamically and during gameplay.  We didn't like how everything was insanely expensive but adjusting the gains of experience meant growing to powerful too quickly.  To that end our little grand experiment will be altered to follow the below guidance for the next couple story arcs (most likely "The Tournament" and "The Robe") before we readdress.

The following is enacted for use of experience on purchases and calculations from this day forward.  Previous purchases and rewards are grandfathered in and shall not be revoked from the characters in play.  NPCs and older characters are unaffected at this time.

1. Fractional Experiences Ratio:

Old Rule/Official: Five Beats earns a character an Experience point of the same type.  A Beat is 1/5th of an Experience.

New Rule: Four Beats earns a character an Experience point of the same type.  A Beat is 1/4th of an Experience.

Rationale: This will allow faster earning of Experiences.

2. Static (non-tiered/non-style) Merit Costs

      

Official Rule: Normally all Merits cost 1 Experience per Dot.

Old Rule: Tiered/Style Merits cost 1 Experience per Dot and Static Merits cost 1 Experience per 3 Dots.

 New Rule: Tiered/Style Merits cost 1 Experience per Dot and Static Merits cost 1 Experience per 2 Dots.

Rationale: This is an easier ratio to deal with mechanically and makes sense based on the rewards garnered for various Merits.

3. Minimum Experience per Chapter 

New Rule: For attending and participating in a gaming session or Chapter (not a play-by-post interaction) player's active Character will receive a minimum of  1 Experience point and 1 Arcane Experience point to be calculated and awarded at the end of game. Beats will be calculated and will be in addition to this reward.

Rationale: This will get the players something substantial for their time and better normalize growth rates across active and experienced players alike.

4. Adjusted Arcana and Gnosis Costs

Official Rule: Experience costs for these items has yet to be published but extrapolated in the old rule.

Old Rule: Buying Dots in a Mage's Ruling Arcana cost 3 Experiences per Dot, Common Arcana cost 4 Experiences per Dot, Inferior Arcana cost 5 Experiences per Dot, and Gnosis costs 5 Experiences per Dot.

 New Rule: Magic unlocks vast doors of power and should not be easily attained.  By comparing the cost increases of the nWoD Mage: The Awakening first edition rules with the suspected new rules system, we can find a middle ground in which learning basic Arcana is easy but advancing in the mysteries gets very hard.

Ruling Arcana Cost by Dot: (must be purchased in order)

O - 1 Experience

OO - 3 Experiences

OOO - 4 Experiences

OOOO - 6 Experiences

OOOOO - 8 Experiences

+O - +2 additional Experiences

Common Arcana Costs by Dot: (must be purchased in order)

O - 2 Experiences

OO - 4 Experiences

OOO - 6 Experiences

OOOO - 8 Experiences

OOOOO - 10 Experiences

+O - +2 additional Experiences

Inferior Arcana Costs by Dot: (must be purchased in order)

O - 3 Experiences

OO - 5 Experiences

OOO - 7 Experiences

OOOO - 9 Experiences

OOOOO - 11 Experiences

+O - +2 additional Experiences

Gnosis Costs by Dot: (must be purchased in order)

O - 0 Experience

OO - 3 Experiences

OOO - 5 Experiences

OOOO -  7 Experiences

OOOOO - 9 Experiences

Gnosis 6 - 11 Experiences

Gnosis 7 - 13 Experiences

Gnosis 8 - 15 Experiences

Gnosis 9 - 17 Experiences

Gnosis 10 - 19 Experiences