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The Supernal Suburbia
Close enough to Chicago for an easy commute, but far enough away to avoid the...less than savory aspects of the Windy City, La Grange is a Cook County suburb that some would say is a boring alternative to city living. Many families choose to live in this area for a number of convenient factors: less congestion than its neighboring villages to the east, quick CTA access to the city and nearby towns, and a downright pleasant feeling that scratches the suburban itch that so many middle-class American families are seeking. Locals are quick to brag about La Grange's quality schools and that, yes, the actor David Hasselhoff is from here. What more could you ask for?
However, very few people, locals or otherwise, will let conversation linger on topics about the strange occurrences that have plagued parts of their town for years. It's a simple fact here: If you don't talk about it, it's not really a problem. Suburban lives goes on...except when they don't.
So no one talks about, for example, the way that kids from Lyons Township High School sometimes go missing for a week or two at a time, only to show up in town with no memory of where they've been or what they have been up to. People prefer to quickly change the topic when someone asks about the distant howling they heard coming from the woods at night on the north side of town. And no one really knows, and certainly never talks about, why these disruptions to their idyllic suburban life happen in very specific pockets of town while others have almost never reported these same problems. No one in their right mind discusses how absolutely dreadful all of those bizarre experiences are in Chicago, only a short train or bus ride away.
But you have Awakened. You don't just talk about these odd happenings; you can't get enough of them. And suburban life, it turns out, has a lot of secrets hiding behind its white-washed fences and nicely furnished homes.
Current Player Characters
1. Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon - Lynx, Thyrsus Mystagogue, animist/college student (old character sheet here: Lynx)
2. Second Chances - Eurydice's Heir, Moros Arrow, neopagan obsessed with ephemeral beings
3. DrSteve - Morganna, Mastigos théarch, soccer mom / con-woman
4. DArchon5 - Fatewise, Acanthus Mystagogue, high school grad with supernatural family problems
5. squidheadjax - Caliginosa, Obrimos Guardian, magical thief and artifact remover
Inactive Player Characters
1. Beans - Dr. Asphodel, Moros theoretical physicist
2. MagicSwordsman - Binder, Mastigos bookstore owner/family man
3. Caladriu - Moonstone, Mastigos Sleepwalker-turned-mage
4. crapcarp - Phoenix, Obrimos Hunter-turned-mage
5. Haberdasher - Ragnar, Acanthus Renaissance man
6. Thorbes - Ouroboros Ophis, Moros occult physician
IC Thread
----------------
Game Conventions & Rules
Posting Frequency and Availability:
As a general rule of thumb, please aim to post a minimum of 1-2 times per week, especially if the scene cannot realistically continue without your involvement. If you are going to be unavailable for more than a week, please let me know on the OOC thread or via PM if possible. In turn, I will try to follow the same guidelines myself.
Post Bookkeeping:
Please keep a running header at the start of each post on the IC thread with your character's current status, including active spells under their control, conditions, health, WP, mana, etc. For health, consider using O, B, L (or X), and A characters to represent your health bar and damage type; for example, ALLBBOOO would be a character with 8 health boxes, including 1 aggravated damage, 2 lethal, 2 bashing, and 3 empty health boxes. It's customary for players to each find a font color that they like to represent their character, so it's easier to follow conversations in posts visually (see the IC thread for details).
Here is a sample post template for a character header who uses the red color font:
With spellcasting, please make it really clear how you created the spell, especially for creative thaumaturgy, and include that in a spoiler box in your thread. Here is a sample post template for spellcasting information:
Rolling Dice:
All dice rolls by players need to be made public and permalinked to a roll on your preferred dice roller. Orokos is my current personal favorite. Please pay attention to your dice expressions, especially if you have a dice trick such as 9-again or a rote action. Please place rolls and other OOC information in a spoiler section in your post. For NPC rolls, or especially for hidden actions, I will roll online but will not include the results in my post. Please resist the temptation to browse my roll history.
To help speed up gameplay, if you believe that a roll is needed to perform some action and you think you know what dice pool will be used, feel free to include it in your post preemptively. My general rule of thumb is that a roll is not needed unless there is some risk or consequence of failure. If you are unsure, skip the roll and I will ask for one. Players roll their own Paradox and Wisdom rolls when casting a spell, if relevant.
I may modify your roll after it is made. If I need to grant you a bonus, I'll roll extra dice and give the updated count of successes. If I need to apply a penalty, I will remove dice results from your roll starting with the final (rightmost) rolls and moving backwards.
Per the standard rules on successive attempts for rolls (Mage 2E p. 214), when you fail a roll, you can roll again. If you're in a tense or time-limited situation, you can make successive attempts on a roll but at a cumulative -1 penalty for each attempt. However, you aren't penalized for rolls that are free of time pressure. This equates to a "take 1" rule for certain actions. For example, if you want to cast an instant cast spell that does not risk Paradox (not even a chance die roll), and the dice pool is above 0, roll it online once. If it fails, you may "take 1" -- assume you eventually cast it with 1 success. Roll each time for successive attempts at a ritual spell, or if the spell risks Paradox, using a cumulative -1 penalty on subsequent attempts. Cumulative penalties last until the end of the current scene.
NPC Control:
As the Storyteller, I will take the lead on introducing, describing, and speaking for NPCs during the game. However, players are welcome to introduce or speak for NPCs when they have specialized knowledge about an NPC (e.g., conversation between a PC and their sibling or parent), or when doing so would not have any significant impact on the current drama and is otherwise flavorful.
Tracking and Spending XP:
In my ST offline notes, I use a table to track which characters have earned Beats and Arcane Beats in a given scene. I will try to offer prompts or look for opportunities to offer Beats, and reward players for good roleplay. Players are responsible for tracking their Beats, Arcane Beats, XP, and AXP on their character sheet posted on the forums.
When spending XP, please make a note in the OOC thread so I know that your character has changed. You can spend XP any time and on anything you want. Purchases will generally take effect at the start of the next scene, but if you want access to a new ability and you think it would be dramatically appropriate to gain it immediately (such as a new dot in Gnosis or an Arcanum), let me know.
Combat:
Whenever we formally enter combat, please roll initiative and provide a brief statement of your character's intent during the conflict.
To expedite combat, at any point during the current round of combat, make your post with your action and description of what you would like to do; the actions will then occur in order of initiative. If you need to change your action because of what occurred on someone's turn before you were able to act, then you can edit your post accordingly.
For reflexive actions such as activating Mage Armor, you can do this whenever it might be relevant. If an NPC or antagonist attacks you, I will roll based on your current Defense and mark successes/damage based on that roll. If you decide you would have activated a Mage Armor that affects Defense or damage, you can post in the IC thread and edit the roll or damage accordingly. Follow the same guidelines for Dodge, Counterspell, or similar instant actions that you can do as a reaction, although you cannot use these actions if you have already acted on that turn of combat.
Player vs. Player Conflict:
In some cases, characters may be at odds with each other and may engage in some type of conflict. Whenever such situations arise, please make sure that you are being mature about it and communicating in the OOC thread to ensure that everyone has a positive roleplaying experience. Please first attempt to resolve the conflict narratively, and I can help mediate if needed. If necessary, conflict will be resolved using typical combat or Social Manuevering mechanics. In these situations, please be mature and avoid metagaming here whenever possible.
Conditions:
I will keep a running list of custom Conditions that I or other players have added throughout the game. New Conditions can be suggested in the OOC or IC thread, and will be added here once finalized for future reference. My goal with Conditions is to make something interesting and fun, and to incentivize you to voluntarily take dramatic failures for Beats or Arcane Beats frequently.
----------------
Custom Conditions
Fabled. Your character has performed an impressive feat in battle, and it makes for a great story.
Resolution: When your character speaks of their action to a receptive audience, you may resolve this Condition. This grants +2 to one Social roll and restores a point of Willpower.
Beat: N/A.
Irritable. Like a lion lashing its tail and looking ready to pounce, your character is feeling on edge and thinking about lashing out. Small things that you might normally ignore or brush away have a tendency to get under your skin. Take -2 to Composure rolls.
Resolution: This Condition is resolved when your character's anger causes you to do something that you might later regret about yourself or someone else, such as saying or doing something that might cause harm to a significant relationship (e.g., spreading a negative rumor, breaking something you or someone else owns).
Beat: N/A.
Misinformed. You struggle to understand the social undercurrents in a particular group, identified at the time you gain this Condition. You take -2 on Social rolls and Social Maneuvering attempts involving members of the social group related to this Condition. Whenever the Storyteller asks you to roll for a Social action or Social Maneuvering attempt pertaining to this Condition, instead of rolling, you may voluntarily fail the roll and resolve this Condition.
Resolution: Opt to fail a Social action or Social Maneuvering attempt with someone in the identified group, as described above.
Beat: N/A.
Supernal Blindness. Like a blind spot from staring too close to the sun, your intense gaze upon a Mystery has temporarily harmed your Sight. You must spend a Willpower point to enter your active Mage Sight, even for the first time you use it per scene; you may then maintain it for the remainder of the scene or until leaving active Mage Sight. You also suffer -2 penalties to all Revelation and Scrutiny rolls.
Resolution: This Condition is resolved when you successfully Reveal the surface or deep information of a Mystery.
Beat: N/A.
Trapped. Due to the Space Arcanum, you find that you simply can’t move despite all of your efforts to do so. It’s like being lost, but without actually moving.
Resolution: This Condition is resolved when you successfully cast a Space spell, or spend an instant action to roll Wits + Athletics and succeed on the roll.
Beat: N/A.
Close enough to Chicago for an easy commute, but far enough away to avoid the...less than savory aspects of the Windy City, La Grange is a Cook County suburb that some would say is a boring alternative to city living. Many families choose to live in this area for a number of convenient factors: less congestion than its neighboring villages to the east, quick CTA access to the city and nearby towns, and a downright pleasant feeling that scratches the suburban itch that so many middle-class American families are seeking. Locals are quick to brag about La Grange's quality schools and that, yes, the actor David Hasselhoff is from here. What more could you ask for?
However, very few people, locals or otherwise, will let conversation linger on topics about the strange occurrences that have plagued parts of their town for years. It's a simple fact here: If you don't talk about it, it's not really a problem. Suburban lives goes on...except when they don't.
So no one talks about, for example, the way that kids from Lyons Township High School sometimes go missing for a week or two at a time, only to show up in town with no memory of where they've been or what they have been up to. People prefer to quickly change the topic when someone asks about the distant howling they heard coming from the woods at night on the north side of town. And no one really knows, and certainly never talks about, why these disruptions to their idyllic suburban life happen in very specific pockets of town while others have almost never reported these same problems. No one in their right mind discusses how absolutely dreadful all of those bizarre experiences are in Chicago, only a short train or bus ride away.
But you have Awakened. You don't just talk about these odd happenings; you can't get enough of them. And suburban life, it turns out, has a lot of secrets hiding behind its white-washed fences and nicely furnished homes.
Current Player Characters
1. Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon - Lynx, Thyrsus Mystagogue, animist/college student (old character sheet here: Lynx)
2. Second Chances - Eurydice's Heir, Moros Arrow, neopagan obsessed with ephemeral beings
3. DrSteve - Morganna, Mastigos théarch, soccer mom / con-woman
4. DArchon5 - Fatewise, Acanthus Mystagogue, high school grad with supernatural family problems
5. squidheadjax - Caliginosa, Obrimos Guardian, magical thief and artifact remover
Inactive Player Characters
1. Beans - Dr. Asphodel, Moros theoretical physicist
2. MagicSwordsman - Binder, Mastigos bookstore owner/family man
3. Caladriu - Moonstone, Mastigos Sleepwalker-turned-mage
4. crapcarp - Phoenix, Obrimos Hunter-turned-mage
5. Haberdasher - Ragnar, Acanthus Renaissance man
6. Thorbes - Ouroboros Ophis, Moros occult physician
IC Thread
----------------
Game Conventions & Rules
Posting Frequency and Availability:
As a general rule of thumb, please aim to post a minimum of 1-2 times per week, especially if the scene cannot realistically continue without your involvement. If you are going to be unavailable for more than a week, please let me know on the OOC thread or via PM if possible. In turn, I will try to follow the same guidelines myself.
Post Bookkeeping:
Please keep a running header at the start of each post on the IC thread with your character's current status, including active spells under their control, conditions, health, WP, mana, etc. For health, consider using O, B, L (or X), and A characters to represent your health bar and damage type; for example, ALLBBOOO would be a character with 8 health boxes, including 1 aggravated damage, 2 lethal, 2 bashing, and 3 empty health boxes. It's customary for players to each find a font color that they like to represent their character, so it's easier to follow conversations in posts visually (see the IC thread for details).
Here is a sample post template for a character header who uses the red color font:
With spellcasting, please make it really clear how you created the spell, especially for creative thaumaturgy, and include that in a spoiler box in your thread. Here is a sample post template for spellcasting information:
Rolling Dice:
All dice rolls by players need to be made public and permalinked to a roll on your preferred dice roller. Orokos is my current personal favorite. Please pay attention to your dice expressions, especially if you have a dice trick such as 9-again or a rote action. Please place rolls and other OOC information in a spoiler section in your post. For NPC rolls, or especially for hidden actions, I will roll online but will not include the results in my post. Please resist the temptation to browse my roll history.
To help speed up gameplay, if you believe that a roll is needed to perform some action and you think you know what dice pool will be used, feel free to include it in your post preemptively. My general rule of thumb is that a roll is not needed unless there is some risk or consequence of failure. If you are unsure, skip the roll and I will ask for one. Players roll their own Paradox and Wisdom rolls when casting a spell, if relevant.
I may modify your roll after it is made. If I need to grant you a bonus, I'll roll extra dice and give the updated count of successes. If I need to apply a penalty, I will remove dice results from your roll starting with the final (rightmost) rolls and moving backwards.
Per the standard rules on successive attempts for rolls (Mage 2E p. 214), when you fail a roll, you can roll again. If you're in a tense or time-limited situation, you can make successive attempts on a roll but at a cumulative -1 penalty for each attempt. However, you aren't penalized for rolls that are free of time pressure. This equates to a "take 1" rule for certain actions. For example, if you want to cast an instant cast spell that does not risk Paradox (not even a chance die roll), and the dice pool is above 0, roll it online once. If it fails, you may "take 1" -- assume you eventually cast it with 1 success. Roll each time for successive attempts at a ritual spell, or if the spell risks Paradox, using a cumulative -1 penalty on subsequent attempts. Cumulative penalties last until the end of the current scene.
NPC Control:
As the Storyteller, I will take the lead on introducing, describing, and speaking for NPCs during the game. However, players are welcome to introduce or speak for NPCs when they have specialized knowledge about an NPC (e.g., conversation between a PC and their sibling or parent), or when doing so would not have any significant impact on the current drama and is otherwise flavorful.
Tracking and Spending XP:
In my ST offline notes, I use a table to track which characters have earned Beats and Arcane Beats in a given scene. I will try to offer prompts or look for opportunities to offer Beats, and reward players for good roleplay. Players are responsible for tracking their Beats, Arcane Beats, XP, and AXP on their character sheet posted on the forums.
When spending XP, please make a note in the OOC thread so I know that your character has changed. You can spend XP any time and on anything you want. Purchases will generally take effect at the start of the next scene, but if you want access to a new ability and you think it would be dramatically appropriate to gain it immediately (such as a new dot in Gnosis or an Arcanum), let me know.
Combat:
Whenever we formally enter combat, please roll initiative and provide a brief statement of your character's intent during the conflict.
To expedite combat, at any point during the current round of combat, make your post with your action and description of what you would like to do; the actions will then occur in order of initiative. If you need to change your action because of what occurred on someone's turn before you were able to act, then you can edit your post accordingly.
For reflexive actions such as activating Mage Armor, you can do this whenever it might be relevant. If an NPC or antagonist attacks you, I will roll based on your current Defense and mark successes/damage based on that roll. If you decide you would have activated a Mage Armor that affects Defense or damage, you can post in the IC thread and edit the roll or damage accordingly. Follow the same guidelines for Dodge, Counterspell, or similar instant actions that you can do as a reaction, although you cannot use these actions if you have already acted on that turn of combat.
Player vs. Player Conflict:
In some cases, characters may be at odds with each other and may engage in some type of conflict. Whenever such situations arise, please make sure that you are being mature about it and communicating in the OOC thread to ensure that everyone has a positive roleplaying experience. Please first attempt to resolve the conflict narratively, and I can help mediate if needed. If necessary, conflict will be resolved using typical combat or Social Manuevering mechanics. In these situations, please be mature and avoid metagaming here whenever possible.
Conditions:
I will keep a running list of custom Conditions that I or other players have added throughout the game. New Conditions can be suggested in the OOC or IC thread, and will be added here once finalized for future reference. My goal with Conditions is to make something interesting and fun, and to incentivize you to voluntarily take dramatic failures for Beats or Arcane Beats frequently.
----------------
Custom Conditions
Fabled. Your character has performed an impressive feat in battle, and it makes for a great story.
Resolution: When your character speaks of their action to a receptive audience, you may resolve this Condition. This grants +2 to one Social roll and restores a point of Willpower.
Beat: N/A.
Irritable. Like a lion lashing its tail and looking ready to pounce, your character is feeling on edge and thinking about lashing out. Small things that you might normally ignore or brush away have a tendency to get under your skin. Take -2 to Composure rolls.
Resolution: This Condition is resolved when your character's anger causes you to do something that you might later regret about yourself or someone else, such as saying or doing something that might cause harm to a significant relationship (e.g., spreading a negative rumor, breaking something you or someone else owns).
Beat: N/A.
Misinformed. You struggle to understand the social undercurrents in a particular group, identified at the time you gain this Condition. You take -2 on Social rolls and Social Maneuvering attempts involving members of the social group related to this Condition. Whenever the Storyteller asks you to roll for a Social action or Social Maneuvering attempt pertaining to this Condition, instead of rolling, you may voluntarily fail the roll and resolve this Condition.
Resolution: Opt to fail a Social action or Social Maneuvering attempt with someone in the identified group, as described above.
Beat: N/A.
Supernal Blindness. Like a blind spot from staring too close to the sun, your intense gaze upon a Mystery has temporarily harmed your Sight. You must spend a Willpower point to enter your active Mage Sight, even for the first time you use it per scene; you may then maintain it for the remainder of the scene or until leaving active Mage Sight. You also suffer -2 penalties to all Revelation and Scrutiny rolls.
Resolution: This Condition is resolved when you successfully Reveal the surface or deep information of a Mystery.
Beat: N/A.
Trapped. Due to the Space Arcanum, you find that you simply can’t move despite all of your efforts to do so. It’s like being lost, but without actually moving.
Resolution: This Condition is resolved when you successfully cast a Space spell, or spend an instant action to roll Wits + Athletics and succeed on the roll.
Beat: N/A.
What do you have in mind?
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