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[Dataweaver]

A digital penumbra would be akin to what is commonly referred to as Augmented Reality: you see the physical world as it is, but with an overlay of information.

[Dataweaver]

A Mantle is a bit of mythology that derives from Legend and determines how Fatebinding works: what sorts of stories does the God excel in? An Incarnation is a physical manifestation of a God that he or she can use to physically interact with the World.

[Dataweaver]

Awakening's approach is two-fold: there are Rotes (which can only be created by Masters) that let you add an Ability to the pool and give it the Rote Quality; and there are Praxes (which anyone can create) which make it more likely to achieve critical successes. Awakening doesn't have variable difficulties, but it has a few “dice trick” options (such as a “10 again” rule, a “9 again” rule, a Rote Quality or “reroll the failed dice once”, and “critical success on 3 successes instead of 5”) which serve a similar purpose of enhancing the effectiveness of a pool without increasing...

[Dataweaver]

I wouldn't expect Magick to create new skills out of whole cloth. But I could see Mind being used to copy someone else's skills; and with enough time and effort (again, the Virtual Wonder rules) to use those to assemble different skill sets for different personalities....

[Dataweaver]

Rotes are very much not just examples of what you can do with the Spheres; Focus absolutely should be a consideration as well. Rotes ought to have the following parts:

1. What is the Focus?
2. What are the Sphere requirements?
3. What is the underlying Effect?
4. What level of Feat is it?

The Focus is mainly a matter of Practice, although Paradigm may factor in as well. (Obviously, I'm using the M20 terminology here.) Instruments and Abilities definitely factor in, with the Practice not only determining which Instruments and Abilities are appropriate,...

[Dataweaver]

There's an option in M20 for buying Backgrounds with experience points; I would use that as a guideline as to the experience cost of a Rote: figure what Background rating for an Enhancement that can produce the same Effect, and say that the Rote's experience cost is at least as much as the experience cost for said Background; probably more, especially if Rotes lack some of the problems that Enhancements have.

I'd make that available to anyone who has a compatible Focus, whether or not they're Awakened; that said, I'm of the opinion that the average Sleeper doesn't have a Focus; for...

[Dataweaver]

My own approach to Rotes is much more radical; but that's because I see them as a way to replace Hedge Magic with an all-Mage take on Sleepers having access to Magick: Rotes become something that anyone with the right Focus can learn and use — though there are drawbacks if you don't have sufficient Spheres or/and Arete to perform them naturally. I model their cost off of the cost of an equivalent Enhancement.

Meanwhile, MRev declared that fast-casting was a penalty for not working Magick by Rote. I tend to turn that around: if you've learned a Rote, but have sufficient Spheres to...

[Dataweaver]

EDIT: Never mind; the title threw me off.

[Dataweaver]

Yeah; I always found it weird that the endgame scenario for Mage was built around “you have to merge with an alien entity to gain a power that magick can't provide”.

[Dataweaver]

I don't expect them to do that; but if they did, would that mean that Primordials are akin to Storyguides?

[Dataweaver]

Dollhouse.

[Dataweaver]

A “backup persona” is very likely a “virtual Enhancement” — or rather, a virtual Wonder that's “implanted” into the subject's (in this case, your character's) own mind: I'd require Mind, and the Wonders rules from Book of Secrets. It would count as a Virtual Trinket, I think.

[Dataweaver]

In general, when a group in Mage gets “wiped out” but nonetheless manages to survive, it reappears shortly thereafter in some other guise. this is because in order to operate, you need to have some sort of front group. The most successful example of this are the Ksirafai, who disappeared from the Order of Reason only to have been revealed centuries later to have infiltrated the Order of Hermes as House Janissary. Other destroyed groups tended to re-emerge as Crafts, like the Children of Knowledge or the Templar, formerly Solificati and Cabal of Pure Thought, respectively.

So...

[Dataweaver]

Quick note, cuz I'm at work. It's not first edition and second edition. It's Trinity versus Trinity Continuum Æon. That is, don't think of it as two editions of the same game, think of it as two separate games. If you must think of them as the same game, think of it as a reboot or reimagine. Either way, the Trinity Universe material from the 2000s informs but does not define what the Trinity Continuum material does.

[Dataweaver]

If I recall correctly, in 2e temporal manipulation is largely reserved for the likes of Max Mercer, and isn't really available to Novas. I could be wrong about that, though.

[Dataweaver]

Point out to her that there's more to the Tarot than the Major Arcana. Get her thinking about the Tarot's meanings for the different suits (cups, swords, coins, wands); and from there, get her thinking about using actual cups or other containers, swords or knives, coins or pentacles, and wands or staves as stand-ins for the cards. Once she's used to the idea of substituting physical props for Tarot cards, get her thinking about what kinds of substitutions could be made for various Major Arcana.

The whole thing will still essentially be Tarot-based; but ideally it will end up being...

[Dataweaver]

Personally, I see them as prime candidates for instant Transcendence. Not everyone who dies becomes a Wraith.

[Dataweaver]

As I said upthread, I'm hoping that there will be more to 2e's version of the Keepers than just the “one God per Pantheon” that 1e featured. I'd like them to be, for lack of a better term, a “pseudo-Pantheon” of their own, with an alliance of disaffected Gods and Titans from various Pantheons heading things up but generally working through agents in the World to achieve their agenda. In some ways, I'd like to see this replace 1e's Order of the Divine Glory in the role of an organization of mortals who are antagonistic toward the gods — the difference being that they ironically have Divine...

[Dataweaver]

You might consider swiping some ideas from Chronicles of Darkness. In particular, I'm thinking of its Aspirations system, where each character specifies things he or she wants to achieve; and experience gets awarded based on progress toward those goals. Just be sure to allow aspirations to change at dramatically appropriate points in the game. This can provide an alternative way to structure character growth that doesn't depend on combat.

As well, you might consider downplaying the importance of character growth. In narrative-driven games, you often have characters who start out...

[Dataweaver]

The irony, IMHO, is that the VEs did jump ship when the Avatar Storm struck — at least, those of them who were inclined to did. Those who remain cover for this with “we were decimated by the Storm”; but the truth of the matter is that the old-style wanderlust-driven VEs, for the most part, didn't die; they Void Adapted and went off exploring, never to be seen again — we hope. Because if they do return, it will most likely be as allies of the Deep Universe's natives.