[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Chronicle Scopes

So, that approach of gradually opening the aperture as the players, characters and the Storyteller learn more and more about the world is exactly how I started our adventure with a Requiem chronicle in 2005 which is also Canon in our chronicle universe. Overall we call this The Untold Chronicles. Our current ever-changing batch of

Rather than tell you what we DID I will tell you would I recommend as the absolutely best and most fulfilling approach. But it is also the slowest.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from STs and Players how much fun it was to play where you don’t have many options, few and weak powers and even a small cryptid can be a serious physical and existential threat.

Part 1. Start a chronicle as vanilla mortals and slowly force them to deal with supernatural shit. Escalate until they are starting to get trapped in two worlds. Retool, retire, kill off, and make new characters as needed. Grant them one or two supernatural merits each. Keep widening the world. This allows the players and ST to learn, discover and explore as they go and the ST only needs to worry about the immediate. Maybe make one a Sleepwalker or Proximi and introduce a few mages as NPCs or threats.

Part 2. Launch the pre-awakening story/scenes just as you said. When they awaken they get Gnosis 1, and a single dot in one Arcana. Now they have to learn the world of mage. Who will take them in? What faction and order? Who will teach them High Speech? Again, the ST gets to learn along with the players. I think you will find this mini-chronicle (or full-blown if you prefer) to be the most rewarding and exciting. Survival is low and dangerous are high but the sense of wonder and mystery too!

Part 3. Now they are base mage characters, they have met that threshold. They know who they are as a mage and not a sleeper but may retain trappings and relationships from their life as a sleeper.  Feel free to cut out Part 1 if you want and make Part 2 short.  Now we start to travel through the tiers and you learn mage as the players do, I recommend for a continually same PCs for the most part that a Chronicle is dedicated to each.

Tier 1. They are a forming Cabal and just getting their feet under them.  They don’t know any other Cabals or the Concilium yet except for chance encounters.  They learn about threats and supernatural politics of their local town or neighborhood.  They are learning what it means to be a mage and how magic works.  The players and ST learn the core mechanics of being a mage.  Every supernatural being is mysterious and dangerous.

Tier 2. The Cabal begins interacting with other Cabals and dealing with the politics of being in a Concilium.  Threats get bigger and the area is the city.  This is your classic mage game. The PCs are nobodies and are trying to get recognized.  Or maybe you guys are Nameless still or maybe you get recruited by the Seers but if you’re new to Mage 2.0 you probably should focus on Orders and Concilium.  If you’ve played tons of MtA1.0 then maybe try something different like that.  They are beginning to meet and understand other supernatural being NPCs with their own social constructs and abilities.

Tier 3. PCs have become leaders in the city and have power in the Concilium.  Characters are mastering their first Arcana ideally and their Cabals actions influence the Concilium directly and stories span the whole region around the city.  Other mages across the country in conciliums or similar orders know who you are.  You have a pretty good idea of all the supernatural factions in your town and quite a bit about how their woggity works.

Tier 4. PCs have now become leaders in their Orders.  Order leadership across the global knows who you are.  They are mastering multiple Arcana, developing their own Rotes, chasing their Obsessions on a large scale.  Story effects and locations are Global.

Tier 5. PCs are obtaining Archmastery and are now part of the Ascension War, actively politicking with other Entenes and reshaping the world.  Effects are usually always global and cosmic.  I recommend players have two batches of characters, their archmages and some of their mage pawns.

Tier 6. This is a theoretical tier of PCs acting as Ascended Beings and fighting for the nature of reality itself.  I don’t know what this kind of chronicle looks like yet.

In our current game we have a batch of Archmages that are basically NPCs but when used they deal with Tier 5 stuff.  Another moderate PC group are Tier 4 but regularly get involved in our primary Cabal which just graduated from the Tier 2 to Tier 3.  So it’s possible to have stories that overlap.  Or primary group is Tier 3 and all the higher tier characters are NPCs with PC control.  PCs always have a Tier 3 character, the rest are older characters that are in the background.  In the future though, we reserve the ability to reactivate powerful NPC/PCs as full PCs again when the main group reaches Tier 4.

Does that help at all?  Start small scope and slowly promote the Chronicle or Chronicles into wider spanning and complex stories as both PCs and STs learn about the world. 

For example, If nobody is interested in Changelings and you don’t plan to run a story about the Mages meeting them then don’t worry about it and keep it in the background.  Do a one-off Changeling using the simplified Hunter rules or even the Horror or Spirit systems in the 2.0 books if you just need to throw something together they may have to fight.  I hardly know shit about Changeling and Promethean and as a result we usually don’t have plot that focused on them.  And that is perfectly fine.  Nobody knows all the rules in all the books, but there are many ways to simplify them while making the players feel like they are getting a realistic and accurate interaction or story. 

Also, if you set overarching themes and moods for your chronicle you can make sure your stories stay within the scope of what the players and storyteller like and what kind of gaming experience they want to have.  Getting and updating their feedback on what they like and what they would love to see is important.  Make sure they use the Aspirations and Obsessions mechanics and focus on them heavily.  You can split them into Player Aspirations and Character Aspirations to track what sort of stories they are interested in.  Of course they don’t get to fully decide, but take it to heart.

And if you want help Mathew, or want to share and bounce ideas please let me/us know.  We love this shit.  And part of why we started the blog was to share some of the goodness with the world.  So these are the thoughts off the top of my head, just my current framework for Chronicle scoping.  And it’s also my opinion, what is yours?  Any ideas? Questions?

Chronicle Major Themes & Moods

For our Chronicle: Mage II: The Dethroned Queen which has several scope tiers of Gameplay:

I. Tier One: Cabal/Local Scope - Pentacle Academy Students

• Theme: Maturing in the Mysteries
• Theme: Addicted to Magic (Obsession)
• Theme: Modern Sorcery
• Theme: Personal Choice & Consequences
• Theme: Academic Magic (Class, Lessons, Pentacle Academy Focus)
• Mood: A Sense of Wonder (High Magic)
• Mood: Dreaming Awake (Taking Control)
• Mood: The Drive to Understand (The need to know and unveil the world)

II. Tier Two: Concilium/City Scope - Pentacle Academy Graduates

• Theme: Cogs in a Hidden Machine
• Theme: An Immoral, Broken World
• Theme: The Tyranny on Enlightenment, Safety for Obedience (Seers)
• Theme: Accountability
• Mood: Caught in Conspiracy & Intrigue
• Mood: Paranoia
• Mood: Personal Horror

III. Tier Three: Order/Regional Scope - Browncoats Cabal

• Theme: The Idea & Limits of Control (The Exarchs)
• Mood: The Weight of Destiny & Doom (Ancient Providence)
• Mood: Resisting Reality Itself
• Mood: The Menace of Cosmic Secrets & Promises of Ancient Mystery

IV. Tier Four: Pentacle/Global Scope - Bridge of Souls Cabal

• Theme: The “What if” Scenario (What would it be like if you had Awakened?)
• Theme: The Erosion of Ultimate Truth & Existence under Siege (Abyss)
• Theme: The Sanctity of the Supernal, Free Will, and the Soul
• Theme: Power - The Cost of Hubris & The Corruption of Power
• Mood: No Going back Home

V. Tier Five: Pax Arcana/Cosmic Scope - Five Horsemen Cabal

• Theme: All Worlds are Dust shaped by Will
• Theme: Crossing the Threshold (Archmastery or Oblivion)
• Mood: Cosmic Responsibility (Archmagi)