[OOC] [Mage: the Awakening 2E] The Supernal Suburbia

[rwknoll]

rwknoll I know you said overlap isn't an issue, but since we've got like 4 acanthus and 0 mastigos, I could rework Moonstone as mastigos. That path would really suit him and the trigger for his Awakening just as well, and I was planning to get Mind anyway.

Sure, I'm totally cool with that. It's also something we can decide after the final party is selected. I'm deciding mostly based on character concepts and narrative write-ups first, and Path second. I'll consider you as Mastigos for now, but we can discuss further if needed.

[Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon]

Good luck with the selection process!

Everyone else, feel free to ask all sorts of questions about Lynx (or me) if you want to.

[Thorbes]

If it is of any help, the first thing I though about Linx was something similar to Phoenix, a kind of father figure. Bardo is very paternal despite (or due to) having no child, so he can develope that kind of relationship with almost any younger character given the circumstances. I think he is the oldest of the bunch at a 45-50 years old mark.

[ChaosArchon]

rwknoll also, and this is likely much furthermore down the line, but I'm hoping to pick up Walkers in Mists as Zosimus' legacy as I think the concept is pretty damn cool

[Tambov]

Tambov - I appreciate the added information. It's giving me a little more to go off of, but I still don't feel like I know much more about your character. What's he doing in Chicago? He can choose to make "cryptid hunter" an Obsession and focus of his Awakened life, but what else is there to him besides that? I can see the direction you'd like him to go in, but I'm asking instead for everything leading up to that point. The rest will come through roleplay and in-game experiences.

Well...
There's family, likely estranged by his (pre-Awakening) antics. There're hunting buddies (he's likely to grow distant, now - I expect his Sleeper life to gradually wash away, until only his job remains). There's his job as a dietician. His hobbies include country music - he's a (still mediocre) banjo player (Expression 1). He's a scolar first and a hunter second - not just in stats: his thrill for knowledge is stronger than his thrill for the hunt. He actually lives in La Grange - he recently returned from a trip to Enfield, where he Awakened. Favorite season is early autumn. Favorite color is green. Favored food - canned pork. Single. Had some unfulfilling swings with either sex. Feel free to involve any exes.
Is this satisfactory?

[Beans]

Vo's probably gone to bars and stuff before the divorce, so I'm sure she's at least seen her fellow queer mages there before. She could easily be teaching anyone who's taking physics classes, and people in the neighborhood could have seen her.

[Retias]

I'm gonna keep my eyes on things, see if I make it in, and then do more about checking ties with other players.

[crapcarp]

I'm definitely noticing that in the last few days, more and more players are adding or updating character backgrounds to make themselves part of the LGBT community. I am in full support of the LGBT community and view myself as an ally for people who identify as LGBT. I also want to be clear that you don't need to make your character gay/bisexual, etc. to fit in with the other characters. I want to ask...are people feeling pressured to add this to increase their chances of being picked? Or did recent conversation or other players' ideas pique your interest in exploring this with your character?

For me, Phoenix is bi simply because I am. It's just the whole writer familiarity thing, nothing more. Though I must say I too am loving the idea of an all/near-all LGBT cabal. Makes sense when you think about it, especially if there's some straight Seers running around.

[wtaylorjr2001]

I will fix my application tomorrow I had things to take care of today.

[rwknoll]

Oooooook.

After reviewing all of the submissions repeatedly today, and taking into consideration all of the info that everyone provided, I have a final list of characters I would like to invite to play in the game. I want to preface this by saying that there were SO many good submissions. This wasn't easy for me. Obviously I would rather give everyone the chance to play, but I just don't think it's feasible for a single cabal.

Due to the strength and overall quality of these submissions, I decided to keep 6 players:
1. Beans - Dr. Asphodel, Moros theoretical physicist
2. Caladriu - Moonstone, Mastigos Sleepwalker-turned-mage
3. Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon - Lynx, Thyrsus animist/college student
4. crapcarp - Phoenix, Obrimos Hunter-turned-mage
5. Haberdasher - Ragnar, Acanthus Renaissance man
6. MagicSwordsman - Binder, Mastigos bookstore owner/family man

Having a cabal of 6 PCs will potentially introduce some challenges for me as a ST, so I'll ask in advance again for your patience as I tackle that learning curve. However, it also means you can potentially split up during certain story points or scenes, which gives me some neat options for adding conflict to the game and offering unique roleplay opportunities.

As long as the 6 of you are good with this final selection, I will post more tonight or tomorrow with info about what I'd like to do next to get the game up and running!

To the other 5 players who submitted characters: I really enjoyed your submissions. Once this game gets underway, depending on how it goes and how much free time I have, I might be able to create a separate game for you and ST that one as well. Alternatively, if any of the active players from this game drop out or need to leave the game for whatever reason, I would be looking at this list next to see if anyone wants to join the full game. If anyone has further questions or concerns, please send me a private message.

Really looking to getting the show on the road with this! Thank you to everyone for your patience.

[rwknoll]

Here are some additional ideas I had in mind while reviewing the PCs, now that the party has been selected:

Caladriu - The rest of the party includes another Acanthus and another Mastigos. Consequently, I think you should pick whichever Path would be the most fun for you to play. Just let me know what you think before you start character creation.

Beans - I would suggest that we say that Vo has been asked to teach the occasional "first-year seminar" kind of college class, one geared towards freshman and transfer students to help orient them to the college experience and to make sure they have at least basic knowledge of the academic skills expected of incoming freshmen. Vo may see this as a frustrating chore and waste of her academic skills, or maybe she loves teaching new students and stepping outside of her academic specialty.

Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon - I think we should make Oscar a student at the University of Chicago. It makes a lot more sense to me that an international student would apply and go there. You can still live in La Grange and commute, just like Vo (if she in fact decides to continue pursuing her academic career after Awakening). And we can say that you took/are taking Vo's first-year seminar class, so you know her. The degree to which you know her, and how hard you would have worked during that class, would be up to you.

crapcarp - By having the rest of your Hunter cell suddenly die at the moment of your Awakening, we might be missing out on a really prime opportunity for plot hooks! I have 2 alternate suggestions for tweaking this. First, we could say that the other Hunters in your cell were all severely injured or maimed, mentally traumatized, or killed, but not all of them died. Or, I'd like you to add that your Hunter cell worked with another one in the Chicagoland area, and they've been trying to figure out what precisely happened to you after the Awakening event. Suffice to say that they're very curious about the things they've been able to figure out so far, and they're looking for you.

Haberdasher - How would you feel about making Ragnar a grad student at the University of Chicago? Per Google, they have Ph.D. program in Comparative Literature, or one in English Language and Literature. You could have run into Vo and/or Oscar at some point during a campus event, possibly a LGBT-related event or guest speaker seminar.

MagicSwordsman - Your character has some very unique facets to his background that I am really interested in exploring with you. First, you're the only character who seems to be in a committed relationship or with kids. You're also the only hetero member of the cabal. The way Marlin feels about the LGBT community may influence how easy it is for him to come together with the others to form a cabal. If this feels forced for you, or if you don't have any particular reason for Marlin to meet up with the others, we can also say that he has met some of them (probably Ragnar at least) at a guest author seminar hosted by the University of Chicago.

[Beans]

Vo probably is not the biggest fan of teaching FYS, but she does it and her students get used to the stammer. Hopefully. They're sort of stuck with her.

I'm happy for her to have met others through the college, obviously, including through teaching FYS.

[rwknoll]

Vo probably is not the biggest fan of teaching FYS, but she does it and her students get used to the stammer. Hopefully. They're sort of stuck with her.

I'm happy for her to have met others through the college, obviously, including through teaching FYS.

Sweet! Of course, if Lynx would have had any reason to take an introductory physics course, he could have you for that class instead. Assuming he's ok with the UChicago idea.

[Haberdasher]

rwknoll Yes, Ragnar being a grad student in the Comparative Literature program would be pretty appropriate. Being an Acanthus, I think he would be very interested in seeing how cultures can approach the same story and change the context to suit their cultural mores and theology; it could really give him some insight into how he could use Fate and Time to subtly alter chains of events. Being a grad student, he's almost certainly working as a T.A.

Beans Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon, What do you think of Ragnar being a T.A. in the FYS that Vo is teaching, with Lynx taking it? Alternatively, Ragnar is a T.A. for Vo, and Ragnar and Lynx met through a LGBT student group? I did some research on University of Chicago, and apparently there is a student group called The Agenda, which is specifically for gay, bisexual, and queer men. Since Ragnar is relatively inexperienced, and Lynx doesn't have any sexual experience either way, I think a group for non-straight male students could be a convenient venue for them to meet at.

[Thorbes]

Well, that's sad, I had high hopes for this

I'll still read it to see how does Phoenix do.