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[baakyocalder]

There's definitely a lot of options here. If the player buys a Merit to be a kinfolk and a mage, they should have at least a few of the kinfolk be friendly. The other kinfolk should recognize the mage as kinfolk and even if hostile, be non-homicidal (they are kinfolk, so we have to give them a modicum of respect and can't harm them without a good reason). The caern should be kept safe and since caerns could double as nodes, these would be sources of conflict with mages.

As for the Fianna, they would likely have some good relations with mages from the Cult of Ecstasy with a musical...

[baakyocalder]

The Euthanatos are also teachers, but they aren't as deeply invested in needing to control formal educational institutions to the extent that other Mage groups are. The Celestial Chorus is deeply tied into the world's religions and it's much easier to make people devoted believers if you get them practicing it when young (and can explain away the stuff that doesn't make sense when they get older). The Order of Hermes needs highly educated people for its base paradigm and they are elitist, so they'd get involved in education to raise up the right portion of Sleepers (not enough energy to raise...

[baakyocalder]

A basic rule to Mage: many really cool effects work best by combining spheres. Time 2 combines greatly with any other sphere at level 1+ to notice things of the other sphere.

For creating stuff, usually it's Prime 2+other sphere if it's simple stuff that won't be around forever....

[baakyocalder]

As for coincidental, vulgar without witnesses and vulgar with witnesses, you might find the subtle/uncanny/extreme ideas from Mage Made Easy to be helpful.

Think of how reality works in the area. If it's modern-day U.S., think of an action movie and what would make the audience go 'What?' If it's something that happens pretty commonly in genre and is set up and not overused (dodging one explosion is plausible but dodging 5 in a row gets believable), then it's subtle. Same difficulty as coincidental. Something which could happen in that movie but which is a stretch is uncanny; same...

[baakyocalder]

Base difficulty is based on whether the effect is coincidental, vulgar without witnesses or vulgar with witnesses and based on the highest sphere used.

If it's Matter 3 and Time 3, the base difficulty is 6 for coincidental, 7 for vulgar without witnesses or 8 for vulgar with witnesses. Since you're talking a room which is 1750 square feet, or about the size of some good-sized homes, that's your area for the number of successes required.That's either a Mighty Feat or Outlandish feat, since it's less than blowing up a building or running a whole mob and fixing a whole room is probably...

[baakyocalder]

Given they've been a game company for 9 years and have industry veterans, I doubt regular politics will keep Onyx Path from putting out product.

What product they do put out depends on the economy, including shipping and distribution. At least in the U.S., game companies have been impacted by government response to Covid-19. You can't print a book if your printer is closed, which has happened to several companies (the deluxe print of Wolves of God by Sine Nominee Press and the Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine are two products I know of that were delayed due to the printers being...

[baakyocalder]

I recommend revising the original post with desired playtimes with the appropriate time zone you are in.

Check out to see if there's something like Ascension Con going on--as conventions move to online gaming there are more opportunities to play and you might meet some people you'd want to play with regularly before making a major commitment.

Oh, and there's a Mage character thread that needs new characters if you want to run some of the character ideas by the rest of the forum members for some feedback.

Hope you find some good people to play with!

[baakyocalder]

Two good writeups.

Also to add that as social circles are broken by social distancing requirements, using Contacts, Influence and other social Backgrounds and various social Merits is exceedingly difficult. Humans and vampires aren't as able to meet with each other. Those Brujah with anarchistic tendencies are probably riling up people to stop social distancing and still gathering at night.

Vampires aiming to play political games can attack politicians for not doing enough to stop the spread of Covid-19 or taking measures which cause too much harm. Vampires may not wish...

[baakyocalder]

Using the times to learn a sphere in the Bitter Road would be a good start. Those times presume some regular practice and study and are built along the Library and Mentor backgrounds as a way to learn more quickly. See page 73. . .

If you give targeted experience, as Heavy Arms has said, it tends to let PCs buy that up more quickly than the base Mage assumption that requires all the experience be spent on a pool of everything. That's why I tend to give study points for studying and new discoveries of things other than Arete or Sphere study points. I know the players will want power...

[baakyocalder]

As a Mage player, I find Mage 20 refers regularly to old books, either directly or a rule is an allusion to a prior rule. Mage 20 doesn't cover all the lore, so I like the other books.

I also have Mage Second Edition, my favorite of the editions prior to Mage 20, in PDF. It's a good fill-in for the effects for various spheres, for some of the Avatar background and gives me Library mechanics, and also the general skill and power level of masters and other mages.

I don't know other lines as well, but having the 20th anniversary books for all of them (thank you to Onyx...

[baakyocalder]

In Enlightened Grimoire, which compiles the rotes in official Mage products up to the time of publication, there is an optional rote system. As it lacks base times to learn rotes, the system is incomplete.

There are many ways to interpret rotes--I see them as showing how a specific Focus (the M20 flavor) uses specific spheres for a specific effect. Summoning a fire elemental is going to be different for a Hermetic using their traditional methods than for a Dreamspeaker who spins fire as one of their instruments.

[baakyocalder]

You'll also want to make sure that Quintessence is flavored right for the effects. You want a sword that shoots fire--you will need Quintessence with a fiery Resonance.

If you make Charms (one-shot items made in batches), you can have magic items without spending that Permanent Willpower.

[baakyocalder]

I'd go with the first assumption being, 'What did you want in your Chronicle?' After that, well the Electrodyne Engineers (Sons of Ether) published in journals and so did many other scientists. The Collegium of History has frequent debates over the history of the world and I believe there are lore references to them having secret publishing.

So, I'd go with, there are probably enlightened scientific journals that serve as something less than a Primer but which still help Students learn enlightened science and which allow discussions of enlightened science. Readership is small. I was...

[baakyocalder]

Matter 1 lets you see specific matter patterns, so if you wanted to see through a solid object, I'd recommend Forces 1 and Matter 1. Correspondence 1 lets you see around things in a small area near you, so combining it with either Forces 1 or Matter 1 would let you see through solid objects.

Basic way spheres work:

Rank 1. Detect sphere and very limited manipulation (minor effects to enhance skills, channel Quintessence with Prime)
Rank 2. Minor control. About 150 lbs weight telekinesis with Forces, suggestions with Mind, minor probability alterations with Entropy,...

[baakyocalder]

The Akashic's apprentice was handing out flyers and posting flyers for the Akashic's meditation and yoga studio. I guess there's technically a few more associates, who are not Acolytes, in the campaign. The Master of the Chantry has 4 dots of Allies represented by mercenary fighters who come from families with decades of service to House Shaea. However, they are basically in the background to patrol the city and provide some protection on a larger scale. Most recently, the 4 Hermetic gunmen went to El Salvador to check on the Akashic's apprentice. The Akashic also has a servant, basically Alfred...

[baakyocalder]

Since in Mage, the evil faction called the Nephandi have deep inroads in the internet, I could easily see a vampire being haunted by spirits of technology. It wouldn't even be insanity if the Heralds of Basilisk group or a similar Nephandi faction were involved. Since it's a hacker character, perhaps they hear the moans from the networks they've hacked?

[baakyocalder]

Ascension's Right Hand has a lot of good flavor for Acolytes and other retainers. M20 Gods and Monsters also has useful material.

Acolytes have rarely come up in my games, as most of the players have been either insufficiently interested in the various associated NPC backgrounds for their character, or tend to use those backgrounds in a pretty shallow fashion.

In my present game, there are three active PCs. The Verbena has the Cult background, defined as musicians, but that background has barely been used. Hopefully we'll get more play out of the musician's Irish bard...

[baakyocalder]

One of the administrators followed up to a trouble ticket to say that the 'Contact Us' function had been sending to an email address that was no longer in use. The problem has been fixed, as the 'Contact Us' function is now sending to an active e-mail address.

Hopefully the OP got into the game they wanted to play.