• Mages can cloak their magic: Hiding a Mystery from Scrutiny is part and parcel to the Awakened. They layer “decoy” spells on top of Mysteries, use Prime to send would-be Scrutinizers down false paths, and set traps for careless investigators. You can represent these things with high Opacity, and set the “truth” at the deeper levels of the Mystery.
• Non-Supernal Phenomena Are More Opaque: A mage can Scrutinize the site of a Wasteland created by a Promethean and learn a great deal, but the Opacity rating should be higher (roughly 1.5 times higher, as a suggestion) than a similar effect created by Awakened magic.
Basic Opacity
If the source of the Mystery is something with a dot rating — a spell, a Discipline, an ephemeral entity's Influence, that's a good place to start. More powerful Mysteries are more complex and require more study... most of the time. Sometimes a power is rated at a high level for raw power rather than complexity, and sometimes a low-level power is subtle enough that it's easily missed. If it doesn't feel right that a four-dot effect that blasts its target with a lightning bolt is more complex than a one-dot effect that slightly influences subtle emotional cues, feel free to ignore this advice.
If the Mystery is a living being rather than a magical effect, consider using its Rank (for ephemeral entities) or half its Supernatural Advantage, rounded up. Likewise, if it could be reflected as a Merit, you can use that rating as the base Opacity. If none of those guidelines apply, consult the following chart for benchmarks:
1 - Barely a Mystery to anyone with the Sight; a routine haunting, active Hallow, or minor psychic ability.
2 - A curiosity, but one easily explained; an old magical relic, a minor cryptid, a locus with unusual resonance.
3 - The sort of thing a mage might become obsessed with; a Supernal artifact, a Verge that only appears on an unknown calendar, the daimonomikon of a forgotten Legacy.
4 - A hotly-contested Mystery; Places That Aren't, Abyssal incursions, the secret library of a third-degree Master.
5 - A Mystery famous throughout the Awakened world; the principal Mystery around which a Consilium forms, an archmaster's tomb, a potent Supernal artifact, an Abyssal Verge.
6+ - A Mystery that's withstood Scrutiny for thousands of years: ruins of the Time Before, archangels and Shadow gods, a vast and intricate destiny spanning decades and thousands of people.
Modifying Opacity
Once you have a ballpark figure for your Mystery's base Opacity, consider the following adjustments, in addition to those described.
• Is this Mystery the central plot of the current story? If so, consider increasing its Opacity by 1-2 so the players can't immediately brute force their way to understanding. Conversely, if the Mystery's main purpose in the story is to provide a clue toward bigger and more interesting things, drop the Opacity by 1-2 so they don't waste a bunch of time on it.
• Abyssal Mysteries and those from similarly alien realms (the Lower Depths, splinter timelines, and the like) almost always have a higher Opacity than those that originate in the Supernal or Fallen Worlds.
• Even if the Mystery isn't Supernal, if it falls under the purview of multiple Arcana, increase the Opacity by 1 for every additional Arcanum that applies.
• If the Mystery is an example of a well-cataloged phenomenon (for example, an instance of Astral possession in Los Angeles), lower the Opacity by a point or two.
Permutation: Linked Opacity
Sometimes a Mystery is actually the confluence of several smaller Mysteries: a strange, Twilight tower of bone and wire being built by the stolen souls of dreamers can be better understood by examining those souls and understanding how they were ensorcelled, for instance. When multiple Mysteries are Linked in this manner, fully Scrutinizing and Revealing the Linked Mystery reduces the Primary Mystery's Opacity by 1. Use this approach to present an intimidatingly Opaque Mystery to your players while still giving them a way to progress. If you use this rule, one piece of Surface Information for the Primary Mystery should be a general direction for finding the Linked Mysteries.
Permutation: Locked Opacity
Sometimes a mage simply cannot progress in her understanding of a Mystery until she has some other information: the functioning of the Guardian of Kal-chak-mul cannot be understood until the mage has deciphered the Pyre Codex, perhaps. In this case, choose an Opacity level for the Locked Mystery: usually half of its base value is a good start. Until the mage solves the Key Mystery, she can't make further Scrutinizing rolls against the Locked Mystery. If you use this rule, one piece of Surface Information for the Locked Mystery should be a hint toward the Key Mystery.
Example Mysteries: Opacity
Cameron has handed her Storyteller a backstory for her character, Belladonna, with a large gap that says "insert plot hooks here." The Storyteller takes her up on this generous offer by deciding that her character is linked somehow to the fate of an ancient archmage who was written out of existence by the Exarchs. He decides that this connection will be represented by a Mystery: a locked door deep in Belladonna's Oneiros that leads to the archmage's Chantry. The spell that created the door is a Mind •••• spell, but the fact that the archmage no longer exists in this continuity means the Mystery also incorporates Time, which increases the Opacity by 1. He knows the Opacity needs to be high enough to sustain the Mystery over at least the first part of the campaign, so he gives it another 2-point boost, for a total Opacity of 7. That should keep Belladonna from unravelling the Mystery too quickly — but so that she doesn't feel completely blocked, he creates a few Linked Mysteries to knock the Opacity down a bit: maybe a couple of relics of the archmage's erased life or someone with a sympathetic link to someone who never existed. She also Locks the Mystery's final Opacity behind solving the Mystery of the erased archmage: Belladonna will have to figure out who he is and how he was erased before she can solve her own Mystery.
Stephanie is creating a Mystery involving a powerful, alien spirit that is creating servitors by unravelling people's Patterns and stitching them together in bizarre ways. The actual spirit remains in the shadows for now, but Stephanie expects her players to get their hands on one of its servitors in the next session. Since this isn't the result of Awakened magic, she can't fall back on Arcanum level as a guideline. The spirit that created this unfortunate wretch is Rank 3, though, which will work as a baseline. Since it's a non-Supernal Mystery, the base Opacity should be increased by roughly 1.5 times, which brings it to 5. That would work, but the whole reason Stephanie is putting this Mystery in the players' path is to get them interested in hunting down the big bad spirit, so she drops the Opacity by 1, for a final total of 4.
Surface information is the basic, concrete truth of a Mystery. This information is available upon a successful Revelation, whether or not the mage has lowered the Mystery’s Opacity rating with Scrutiny.
Surface Information represents the fundamental nature of the Mystery. It can be a high-level overview picked up first, before delving deeper into the Mystery, or it can represent the foundation of the Mystery not fully understood until it is partially or wholly dissected.
In general, surface information for Supernal mysteries should include the following:
• Whether the Mystery is the result of Awakened magic.
• If so, what Arcana were involved and the Signature Nimbus of the caster (unless it was cast using a Rote).
• Roughly how old the Mystery is (hours, days, months, years, centuries).
• Optionally, what Practice created the Mystery (if a non-Supernal Mystery, then what Practice the Mystery most closely resembles).
Arcanum Purview
The first and most consistent piece of Surface Information that should be available when investigating a Mystery is which Arcanum's purview it primarily falls under. In fact, this Surface Information is available before the mage even engages her Focused Mage Sight: Active Mage Sight reveals the presence of an abnormal configuration of Arcanum energies. This is an extremely high-level overview, however: Active Mage Sight only reveals the most prominent Arcanum involved: usually the one most closely associated with the effect of the Mystery rather than its cause.
A faerie's death curse, for instance, initially registers as a Death effect rather than a Fate effect.
Revelation should always reveal the whole suite of Arcana whose purview the Mystery falls under. But what constitutes belonging to an Arcanum when the Mystery isn't a Supernal spell? The fundamental effect of the Mystery is your first and most obvious.
A convergence of ley lines that makes those in the vicinity more prone to anger echoes with Mind, while a storm that rages without end roils with Forces.
The source of the Mystery also contributes: whatever other effect it has, a vampire's powers are always tinged with Death, and a spirit's influence with Spirit.
For most Mysteries, that will be enough, but just as Awakened spells can combine multiple Arcana for more complex effects, so can a non-Supernal Mystery.
If that convergence of ley lines makes people more violent and makes them stronger in proportion with their anger, it would resonate with both Mind and Life. If the endless storm is fueled by the souls of the unquiet dead, it would resonate with Forces and Death.
What this Surface Information doesn't provide is how the Mystery uses those Arcana: for that, a mage must Scrutinize the Mystery or perform other experiments. Surface Information only provides the form, not the function.
Presentation
Mage Sight can quickly become a dull, rote process if reduced to clues dispensed in exchange for dice rolls. Remember that mages are diving into the truth that underlies this Fallen reality. Look to the descriptions of how each Path perceives the Supernal and its Arcana beginning on, to the Nimbus (or other aura) of the Mystery's creator, and to the themes and motifs you've devised for your chronicle, and use those to color the information delivered via Mage Sight.
Resonance
The Surface Information of a spell includes its caster's Nimbus, assuming the spell wasn't cast as a rote. Mysteries with other origins instead reveal the resonance of their source: this might be the aura of a creature like a vampire or werewolf, the flavor of Essence stemming from a locus or spirit, or the resonance of a ley line. Just like a mage's Signature Nimbus, the information revealed should allow a mage to identify the same resonance if she encounters it again. Without Scrutinizing the Mystery fully, though, a mage can't always tell the difference between a Signature Nimbus and some other form of resonance.
If the source of the Mystery is obscured or hidden, whether by deliberate occultation or just by being the end result of a long, intricate cascade of supernatural phenomena, however, make the Mystery's resonance part of its Deep Information. Consider making one or more Linked Mysteries to represent the root causes of the Mystery, and give leads pointing to them in the Surface Information.
Age - This piece of Surface Information is unchanged for non-Supernal Mysteries. Unless the Mystery involves unusual application of the Time Arcanum, Revelation should discern its approximate age. Mysteries from the Time Before, whether Supernal or not, never reveal their age as part of their Surface Information. Or rather, attempting to Reveal them yields confusing, contradictory information that seems impossible, the magical equivalent of attempting to divide by zero.
Power Level - Revelation can expose the Practice used to cast a spell, or the Practice that most closely resembles the effect of the Mystery. It's worth noting that mages understand this in terms of Awakened magic, which doesn't necessarily translate into raw power. For example, a spirit's ability to Control its Influences is a ••• effect, but most closely corresponds to the Practice of Ruling, a •• Practice. Even taking that into account, Surface Information only reveals the power level of the Mystery itself, not whoever or whatever created the Mystery. Getting a sense of the power behind the Mystery requires deeper investigation.
Example Mysteries: Surface Information - Cameron's Storyteller has an easy job of it: the Mystery of the archmage's door is, despite its creator no longer existing in this timeline, a Supernal spell. Revealing it uncovers the following information:
• It resonates with the Arcana of Mind and Time (due to the temporal editing that removed the caster from reality.
• Its age is best described as "not applicable;" the Supernal semiotics that illustrate age variously point to the door having existed from the moment of Belladonna's birth, six years in the future, and never having existed at all.
• The door is most closely linked to the Practice of Patterning.
The Storyteller briefly debates whether being removed from reality altogether is enough to obscure the archmage's Nimbus, but decides it's more interesting to give Belladonna the Signature Nimbus of a mage who doesn't exist anymore as a plot hook.
Stephanie's warped spiritual experiment, meanwhile, requires a bit more adjudication. The Mystery clearly resonates with Spirit and Life, and Stephanie decides that it also includes a bit of Fate as the victims' destinies get tangled up in odd ways. The alien spirit's resonance, a sense of numbing cold and inchoate fury, provides a nicely evocative fingerprint for her players to go hunting for. This particular hybrid was created about a month ago, and the mingling of two Patterns most closely resembles the Practice of Patterning.
Deep information is the truth of a Mystery, the intent, the Supernal resonance. This information only presents itself if the mage unravels the Mystery’s Opacity and then succeeds in a Revelation. The Storyteller can arrange deep information in a number of ways, depending on the Mystery in question an the needs of the story.
Scrutinizing a Mystery pays dividends of information. Deep Information goes beyond the surface, moving from the how of Surface Information into the what and why. Understanding Deep Information is vital to getting Arcane Experiences from exploring a Mystery, and mages with an Obsession don't consider it resolved until they've unearthed every last scrap of it.
Option One - All at Once
One possibility is for all of the deep information to be available only after all of the Opacity is tripped away. This means that the character cannot learn anything other than surface information without reducing Opacity to 0, at which point the truth becomes clear. This is appropriate for low-Opacity Mysteries that do not have much in the way of deep information (lingering spells that the caster made no effort to hide) or, conversely, Mysteries that require full context and understanding to truly process. This method requires that the mage perform a successful Revelation after undoing the Mystery’s Opacity in order to gain the deep information.
Holding off all Deep Information till the Mystery's Opacity is reduced to 0 can be risky: particularly if the Mystery has a high Opacity (which discourages players from trying to Reveal the Mystery straightaway), you might be looking at a large number of rolls with minimal new information being conveyed. Not only is that frustrating for the players, it undercuts the sense of discovery and limits players' ability to follow up on other leads to help unravel the final mystery. This approach is best saved for low-Opacity Mysteries, but it can also work well with the optional Long-Term Scrutiny rule presented. Mysteries like this are like intricate puzzle-boxes: offering no hint as to their contents, but allowing investigators to gauge their progress. For this reason they make excellent McGuffins or vehicles for the deployment of a mid-chronicle plot twist. They're less well suited to being the Mystery that drives play over the course of a chapter or story, but with liberal use of Linked Mysteries they can serve that function.
Option Two - Even Distribution
Another method is to parcel out information each time the mage lowers the Mystery’s Opacity. This means that even if the mage doesn’t have the time or ability to fully understand a Mystery, she can learn something about it, perhaps enough to move the story forward and give her a new avenue of approach. With this method, the mage gains information as Scrutiny progresses, without having to perform a Revelation.
Distributing Deep Information at each reduction of Opacity gives a much stronger sense of progress and encourages players to engage with the Mystery as part of the overarching plot: upon hitting the threshold that reveals the Signature Nimbus of a spell's caster, the players might go and dig into the culprit's life to gain greater understanding (and a bonus to future Scrutiny rolls). It works best with higher-Opacity mysteries and those with Locked Opacity: when the investigator hits the Locked Opacity level, the associated Deep Information can point toward the Key Mystery.
While you should decide on the order in which the Mystery’s Deep Information will be revealed when you build it, you’re under no obligation to reveal information in the same order every time: tailor the information revealed to the needs of the story and to the investigative habits of your players. If they’re easily distracted by fresh clues and tend to go haring off after new lines of investigation at the first opportunity, offer tantalizing but potentially misleading or dangerous information early in the process. Consider also the nature of the Mystery you’re designing: the story of the Mystery will often dictate which Deep Information is more readily apparent and which should be buried deeper.
Option Three - Trail of Breadcrumbs
A third method combines the previous two, granting minimal information as the mage unravels Opacity, but still requiring a Revelation for the remainder of the deep information when the Scrutiny is complete.
Handing out some clues over the course of the investigation while saving major revelations for the end of the process provides a good mix of the previous options, but relies on the Mystery actually having a major revelation to be impactful. Exactly what constitutes a major revelation depends on the chronicle: the kindly old Mysterium Councilor's Signature Nimbus on the jar full of stolen souls might qualify, as might the pre-Fall temple's wards actually being designed to keep things in rather than keep looters out. If you don't see one or more pieces of Deep Information that will dramatically shift the course of the story when it comes to light, you're better served with even distribution.
In any case, the Storyteller controls how to parcel out deep information for Mysteries, and is under no restriction to be consistent. Mysteries do not follow patterns or rubrics; they are, by definition, unique and enigmatic. The Storyteller should make the decision for how to parcel out information for a given Mys./tery when she designs it, if for no other reason than to make her life easier when the characters actually come in contact with it.
Unlike Surface Information, which generally yields the same broad categories of data, Deep Information is less uniform. Some Mysteries might have only a single piece, while others can yield up a half-dozen or more. It's the Storyteller's call how much Deep Information a Mystery should reveal, but remember that Deep Information represents the total understanding of the Mystery: it's no fair introducing a surprise twist in a Mystery that's been fully Scrutinized. It is fair to hide Deep Information behind a Clash of Wills, but not to withhold information outright.
Deep Information involving the Supernal may include the following:
• If Awakened magic cast using a Rote, or the effects of an Attainment, the Signature Nimbus of the mage involved.
• For Awakened spells, the spell factors involved (including the remaining duration), whether the spell caused a Paradox (and if so whether that Paradox was released or contained), and whether the spell has been relinquished.
• Identification of a phenomenon as being linked to one the mage has Scrutinized before.
• If not Awakened magic, the power level of the creator relative to the mage’s Gnosis (if applicable).
• Whether the Mystery is related to the Supernal Realms or Abyss.
• How the Arcanum used relates to the Mystery — for example, using Death Sight to scrutinize a vampire’s ghoul will reveal Deep Information relating to the undead blood in the subject’s system, and any powers the ghoul has gained from it. Using Fate Sight to assess a changeling’s powers
will reveal that they are formed by mystical bargains.
Additional consideration for Deep Information include:
• If the resonance of the Mystery is too obscure to be revealed as part of the Surface Information, Deep Information should reveal it.
• The specific nature of the Mystery, including the effects it has on the world around it. Even a self-contained Mystery like an esoteric grimoire or a fracture point in the fabric of Time, often has some influence on its surroundings, and many deep, powerful Mysteries are first noticed by innocuous weirdness. “Specific nature” and “effects on the world” can be a single piece of Deep Information or two separate pieces. A mage might investigate a seemingly-minor “Mystery Spot” and discover that liquids flow uphill and perspective distorts in odd ways, but only realize on deeper investigation that this is because the Spot sits atop an Abyssal Verge of anti-Forces.
• A detailed analysis of the scale and general strength of the effect: how much longer the Mystery will last (assuming it has a finite duration), how large its sphere of influence is, and how powerful its effects are. This could be expressed in terms of damage inflicted or healed, penalties or bonuses levied, or any other game-mechanical effect. It could also be expressed more abstractly, as in the intricacy of manipulated probabilities or how many of the dead will rise and devour the living when the planets align.
• In addition to recognizing the unique resonance of a Mystery, the mage can learn whether the Mystery is connected to a Mystery the mage has already scrutinized. A case of spirit possession might be linked to a Locus by virtue of the spirit having crossed over from the Shadow there, while a potent magical item might be linked to the soul-theft that empowered it. If the mage hasn’t Scrutinized a connected Mystery, she might instead discover a hint that leads her in its direction.
• Whether the source of the Mystery is more or less powerful than the mage herself, as measured against her Gnosis, and by roughly how much. Mysteries that derive from characters with a Supernatural Advantage Trait measure that value against the mage’s Gnosis, while Loci, Hallows, or Mysterious environs use the dot rating, or the level of any Environmental Tilt the Mystery creates. Supernal Mysteries, including Supernal Verges, entities, or Environments, always read as vastly more powerful than the mage.
• If the Mystery is related to or caused by one or more of the Realms Invisible, or if it has its origins in the physical reality of the Fallen World.
• How the Arcanum used relates to the Mystery — for example, using Death Sight to scrutinize a vampire’s ghoul will reveal Deep Information relating to the undead blood in the subject’s system, and any powers the ghoul has gained from it. Using Fate Sight to assess a changeling’s powers will reveal that they are formed by mystical bargains.
• Actions involving the Mystery can be unlocked as part of Deep Information: An Iris that resists attempts to open it with Space magic, for example, might yield up the key to opening it.
Example Mysteries: Deep Information.
Example: Cameron’s Storyteller decides he’ll be doling out Deep Information about the Mystery Door successively, with each reduction of Opacity. He decides on the following information, in the following order:
• The origin of the Mystery is significantly more powerful than Belladonna (or pretty much any mage short of multiple-degree Mastery who Scrutinizes it).
• The Door is connected to another Mystery, which the Storyteller will detail later.
• The Door connects Belladonna’s Oneiros to someplace not a part of the Astral Realms (its impact on the world, and also the Realm from which it originates).
• Another Mystery connected to the Door.
• The Door is permanent, and once opened will allow any Astral traveler to pass through to whatever lies beyond.
• A third and final Mystery connected to the Door.
• How to open the Door; prior to uncovering this piece of Deep Information, the Mystery Door Withstands any attempt to open it via sorcerous means with an effective Potency of 10.
• Finally, fully understanding the Door reveals that it means Belladonna’s soul is intimately linked with that of the archmage whose Signature Nimbus the door bears: she is a part of him. The nature of their connection, as well as the archmage’s identity, are further Mysteries to be developed as the chronicle progresses.
Example: Since the Mystery has an initial Opacity of 7 and eight distinct pieces of Deep Information, the Storyteller decides to hand out one piece of Information each time the Opacity drops a level.
Stephanie’s hybrid servitor will reveal the following Deep Information. Because this is a new and strange type of being, the Storyteller decides to withhold all the Deep Information until the Opacity is reduced to 0.
• The Source of the Mystery is roughly equivalent to a mage of middling power.
• The Mystery has actually partially unraveled the victim’s Pattern and that of a spirit of wrath, then combined the two like a weaver merging two pieces of cloth. Despite outward appearances, this is not the result of simple spiritual possession or even Claiming.
• The interweaving is permanent and far more powerful than most spirit Manifestations.
• The Mystery originates from the Shadow, but it has a tinge of strange, alien Essence about it. (This is because the spirit that created the hybrid is one of the Moon-Banished, a spirit that spent aeons trapped on the Shadow reflection of the moon.) Discovering what that strange Essence means is another Mystery.
• In addition to fusing the unfortunate victim’s body with spirit ephemera in a manner unlike Claiming, the Mystery causes the victim to “leak” Essence. This causes dormant Loci nearby to flare up and attracts curious spirits, and possibly werewolves.
Mage Sight & Investigation
The Chronicles of Darkness corebook presents a new system for investigating mysteries. While it's geared toward investigating the secrets of the Fallen World,
the system can interact with Mage Sight in a few different ways. The following rules are optional if you're using the Investigation
rules in your chronicle.
Mysteries as Clues
The Hierarch is dead, and the only lead is the rapidly-fading
remnant of the spell that killed him. People are compelled to fling their most
prized possessions into as deep pool where some forgotten god slumbers. Murder
rates have spiked, but is it the summer heat wave or poisonous Loci?
In situations where a Mystery is one component of a larger
investigation, exposing the Mystery simply counts as a clue. Revealing a
Mystery's Surface Information without reducing its Opacity to 0 gives the mage
an Incomplete clue with one element. Fully Scrutinizing a Mystery removes the
Incomplete tag and grants an extra element.
Clues as Mysteries
When a Mystery's Opacity proves daunting, it's sometimes better to
approach from a different angle. The Storyteller may treat a Mystery as the
heart of an Investigation, determining the number of clues to be found and the
scope of the information to be uncovered — in this case, how much of the
Mystery's Opacity to remove upon completion of the Investigation.
Clue elements can be spent on Scrutinizing rolls or saved up to
complete the Investigation, as normal. If the investigators attempt to complete
the investigation without the requisite number of clues, use the following list
of complications instead of those in the Chronicles of Darkness corebook:
• The Mystery's architect is obscured or has deniability.
• A hidden effect within the Mystery reveals itself at the worst
possible time.
• One of the investigators falls under the Mystery's sway.
• A relevant party (rival mage, Supernal entity, Seer servitor,
etc.) becomes aware of the investigation.
• The Mystery suddenly and dramatically increases in power, size, or
duration.
Of course, nothing prevents you from building a complex web of
intrigue in which smaller Mysteries serve as clues for the unraveling of a
larger Mystery.
