Campaign idea feedback (new Mage ST)

[BlueWinds]

So, I've run many different games over the years, but I'm about to embark upon my first experience with Mage - running a solo face-to-face M20 game. I'd much appreciate any ideas, thoughts, cautions more experienced players and storytellers have to offer.

The player will be a new Virtual Adept, with Data, Mind and Life spheres and Arete 2. Her magic is pretty stereotypical for a VA, with tools like computers, machines, mathematics, etc. A particular focus of hers is transhumanism - I expect cybernetic augmentation to come up relatively soon, though she won't begin with any, since I'll be starting the game with her awakening.

Speaking of which! She has Avatar 5. Discussing it, we've decided it takes the form a mysterious figure, with her body / clothing, but a face obscured by pixilation / corruption / other digital effects. While she's in the physical world, it'll only show up on digital screens, seeming to have free reign to walk between them - but while she's in the Digital Web, it'll appear to in the material world, showing up on surveillance cameras and similar 'screens' back to the physical.

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For campaign setting / themes, I'm planning on tweaking one major aspect from the books - the Virtual Adepts didn't defect from the Technocracy in the 60s, they're doing it now, 2018. "Today + 10 days" as a setting, if you know what I mean. As the campaign starts, the character works as low-level employee in a Technocrat-owned programming firm. The mass-defection of the Virtual Adepts forms the impetus for her own awakening - think the office building scene from The Matrix, except it's her boss (a soon-to-be-ex-Technocrat) being hunted by New World Order spooks while she herself gets a trippy, dream-like awakening and first uses of with her Avatar acting like Morpheus from the movie, guiding her in evading capture / interrogation as she escapes the scene, probably by ducking into the Digital Web without knowing what's going on.

That sets the stage for the campaign as a whole - a mess of mistrust and confusion, as the Virtual Adepts try to find a new home with the Traditions who don't trust them at all, the Technocracy goes into self-purge / witch hunt mode, and the character scrambles to keep herself out of the crossfire and maybe figure out what the hell is going on. She has some support in the form of Mentor 1 / Chancery 2, a safehouse run by an anarcho-feminist Sister of Hypolita (Arete 3), specializing in Mind magic and dabbling in Life - a very, very different practice from the character's own, despite the shared spheres. Will depend on how things go in-character, exactly how long the character will stay with said mentor / group, but that's at least where it'll start out, with the character fleeing back to her safehouse and the Virtual Adepts (and her old boss especially) attempting to recruit her.

No avatar storm (at least not yet), very little metaplot, the Ascension War is theoretically in full swing but in practice everyone's reeling from the defection of a "rising star" Convention (the VA - who can deny that they were gaining power, in this digital age?). Both I and the player are excited to visit various horizon realms - Copernicus Research Center will show up at some point. I know nothing about it other than what's present on the wiki, but it looks sound super cool, and I'm quite comfortable making stuff up.

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So, anything in particular jump out at you all? Moving the VA defection to the modern day seems like a moderate change, but I'm not too concerned with that. The setting as a whole still makes sense. As mentioned above, would like to hear advice, thoughts, people's experiences.

[Otto D'Fey]

Some random thoughts in no particular order. This sounds like a great set-up for a 1-on-1 game. Given that his Awakening is new and occurs in the face of imminent revolution, I hope there's a period of "Who can I trust?" in the early sessions. The first 1.5 seasons of Alias might be good inspiration for this (Someday I might run a 2 player Mage game along Alias lines, but in the explicitly magical world). A level 5 Avatar will be very...vocal. I'd fully flesh out its personality ahead of time (as someone who loves doing interesting things with Avatars, I like what you have going on there).

While it's a foregone conclusion that the PC will join the VA's, at game's start perhaps that's not necessarily so? Maybe other Conventions (and Traditions!) discover his Awakening and target him for recruitment. It would be interesting if he inadvertently becomes involved in (or a pawn of) negotiating parties in the VA's and Traditions. Or inadvertently betrays an ally and has to prove himself through a dangerous solo mission against the Technocracy. Make sure your understanding of how to enter the Digital Web is in accordance with the rules (and, if needed, change the rules!).

In my current Mage game (and one that recently concluded) I emphasize how all VA's have a huge bullseye on their backs. Paranoia is fun! But plan ahead on how the monolithic, inescapable Technocracy is ultimately held at bay. A neophyte Mage, even one with Avatar 5, probably didn't do it on his own (though it'd be damn cool if he somehow did). Good luck!

[BlueWinds]

Thanks for the ideas! Gives me a bunch to think about. Also, nice Ink avatar. Lovely movie, and one of my inspirations for running a Mage game. I'm normally an Exalted fangirl.

Some random thoughts in no particular order. This sounds like a great set-up for a 1-on-1 game. Given that his Awakening is new and occurs in the face of imminent revolution, I hope there's a period of "Who can I trust?" in the early sessions. The first 1.5 seasons of Alias might be good inspiration for this (Someday I might run a 2 player Mage game along Alias lines, but in the explicitly magical world).

"Who can I trust" is definitely the opening theme. I'm going go pretty hard at it, when, returning home after her awakening, the VA tells her girlfriend what happened (pretty sure the player will do this), and the Sister of Hypolita - the girlfriend - panics and throws a "go to sleep" Mind whammy at her, to try and get time to process "holy shit, this person I've let into my life, heart and chantery has been working for the technocrats this whole time and I didn't know it."

Lebsian character, since both I and my player are. Play what you know.

A level 5 Avatar will be very...vocal. I'd fully flesh out its personality ahead of time (as someone who loves doing interesting things with Avatars, I like what you have going on there).

Antagonistic. The idea is sort of "like the character wishes she could be." The Avatar - which the character sees as very much a separate being - appears to be calm, capable, collected, effortlessly skilled, beautiful... all the things the Mage wishes she could be. The Avatar is constantly serving as combination of goad towards improvement and reminder of how far there still is to go.

While it's a foregone conclusion that the PC will join the VA's, at game's start perhaps that's not necessarily so? Maybe other Conventions (and Traditions!) discover his Awakening and target him for recruitment. It would be interesting if he inadvertently becomes involved in (or a pawn of) negotiating parties in the VA's and Traditions. Or inadvertently betrays an ally and has to prove himself through a dangerous solo mission against the Technocracy.

Oddly enough for a technomancer, she's initially a member of a Sisters of Hypolita chancery. How long she'll stay there, and what the departure will be like, is definitely an open question. I'm also thinking that Generation X will attempt to recruit her. Maybe a good cop / bad cop routine, with a Void Engineer Cybernaut and a Gen X Statician from the same construct? I could use more practice with the mechanics, so I'm going to go stat up these NPCs now.

Make sure your understanding of how to enter the Digital Web is in accordance with the rules (and, if needed, change the rules!).

Hm. I think I want holistic immersion to be somewhat easier than the book presents. Will probably let the character use a Data 3 / Life 2 / Mind 2 effect, because I want her to do it without waiting until Arete 4. Still a ways in the future, but I'd eventually like to do a "sneak in to technocratic stronghold using the web, reassemble body using hypertech 3d printer, steal macguffin, escape with guns blazing" sort of adventure.

In my current Mage game (and one that recently concluded) I emphasize how all VA's have a huge bullseye on their backs. Paranoia is fun! But plan ahead on how the monolithic, inescapable Technocracy is ultimately held at bay. A neophyte Mage, even one with Avatar 5, probably didn't do it on his own (though it'd be damn cool if he somehow did). Good luck!

A bullseye on their backs in what way? Because their faction switched sides?

That's one of the reasons I'm going with a 'everything is chaos' opener - gives a good excuse for me to both keep the Technocracy strong / winning on a large scale, while at the same time opening up plenty of space for things (like the PC) to slip through the cracks.

[Otto D'Fey]

Thanks for the ideas! Gives me a bunch to think about. Also, nice Ink avatar. Lovely movie, and one of my inspirations for running a Mage game. I'm normally an Exalted fangirl.

Thanks for noticing the avatar. Ink presents a nice view of the Penumbra, and Coincidental magick at work (though that scene pushes the coincidental boundaries pretty far as it goes on!). I was a 1st Edition Exalted playtester and just finished year 1 of my third chronicle for that game. I don't post much on those forums but recognized you. Your work has inspired my own reconsideration of what to do with that infernal Craft Charm set.

Oddly enough for a technomancer, she's initially a member of a Sisters of Hypolita chancery. How long she'll stay there, and what the departure will be like, is definitely an open question. I'm also thinking that Generation X will attempt to recruit her. Maybe a good cop / bad cop routine, with a Void Engineer Cybernaut and a Gen X Statician from the same construct? I could use more practice with the mechanics, so I'm going to go stat up these NPCs now.

Iteration X hehe. Gen X is, well, my cohort. I've yet to use the Sisters, but quite like them and hope to toss one into the mix in my current or a future Mage chronicle. I think the dynamic of Sister and Technocrat/budding VA will be fascinating to explore and play around with. Lots of great rp potential there.

Hm. I think I want holistic immersion to be somewhat easier than the book presents. Will probably let the character use a Data 3 / Life 2 / Mind 2 effect, because I want her to do it without waiting until Arete 4. Still a ways in the future, but I'd eventually like to do a "sneak in to technocratic stronghold using the web, reassemble body using hypertech 3d printer, steal macguffin, escape with guns blazing" sort of adventure.

Yeah, that's where my comment was pointing to: find a way to use the Web that works for your game. It's especially fitting for a 1-on-1. It's 2018! We don't need all these complications!

A bullseye on their backs in what way? Because their faction switched sides?

That's one of the reasons I'm going with a 'everything is chaos' opener - gives a good excuse for me to both keep the Technocracy strong / winning on a large scale, while at the same time opening up plenty of space for things (like the PC) to slip through the cracks.

In my recent chronicles (begun about 5 years ago), 2007's global recession was triggered by the Syndicate trying to win and failing. The Traditions took advantage of this fact and the ubiquity of social media and the internet and made something of a comeback in the face of Technocratic infighting. The Syndicate tried to pin the blame on the VA's, and while this didn't work, the Technos could see VA handiwork playing a major role in the Traditions' return to prominence. The Technocracy redoubled their efforts at finding the Adepts, prompting the latter to lie very low, communicating and interacting with others primarily through holograms and avatars.

Chaos gives you a lot of flexibility and the option to rebalance the state of conflict in favor of whichever side is lagging. Slipping through those cracks will be good training for your aspiring Adept!

Another thing I'll mention that my players often express appreciation for: tying real world events--even seemingly innocuous ones--into the story. They need not have any direct bearing on events or even be obviously part of the Ascension War. But reality has a way of supplying ludicrous, insane, or astoundingly coincidental events ripe for mention or inclusion in a Mage chronicle. I also use a lot of real world persons--the more obscure or unusual the better--in my games in varying capacities. It's usually not obvious to the players; 2 weeks ago one player discovered the true life identity of an NPC I introduced at the chronicle's start about 4 years ago.

Out of curiosity, what is provoking your Virtual Adepts to rebel in 2018? Has virtual reality's inability to take the world by storm (due to the other Technocratic Conventions unwillingness to give it to the masses) played a role? Or perhaps they have a drive to bring about the Singularity that is incompatible with the direction other Technocrats want to go? Maybe transhumanism also figures in in some way? Just curious =)

[BlueWinds]

Ran the first session last night, and it was a big hit. There was a scarred, unstoppable Iteration X terminator-lady (She's arete 5, Primium-tatooed, Stamina 7 monster) and a bunch of Black Suits storming (but very methodically) her office building. Maria (the PC) avoided getting 'neuralized' like all her coworkers because her avatar pointed and she looked away just in time to avoid getting frozen.

One of the Black-Suits tagged her with a drug of some sort, and Maria fled down the stairs. She nearly escaped before collapsing. Her boss - the VA that the Technocrats were causing a fuss trying to capture - tucked a USB stick in her pocket and abandoned her, leading to a dream-like sequence in which she found herself inside the Digital Web. Her Avatar, which she is super freaked out about, then apparently (she's not quite sure what really happened) hijacked her physical body and jumped out the window. She "hyperlinked" to a digital space she thought was her phone, and passed out.

Waking up, she was back home, in the arms of Sam (the Sister of Hypolita). Queue a conversation, a panicked Sam failing to KO Maria with Mind, and an awkward conversation where she tried to explain how she did that to an increasingly annoyed Maria. Totally incompatible paradigms. It was great.

Thanks for noticing the avatar. Ink presents a nice view of the Penumbra, and Coincidental magick at work (though that scene pushes the coincidental boundaries pretty far as it goes on!). I was a 1st Edition Exalted playtester and just finished year 1 of my third chronicle for that game. I don't post much on those forums but recognized you. Your work has inspired my own reconsideration of what to do with that infernal Craft Charm set.

Glad you liked it. I always wonder how many people actually paid attention to my Exalted rewrite. I've sort of given up on 3rd edition, and am currently developing my own system (and setting) from the ground up. One of many projects warring for time right now, along with getting my next computer game out the door. ><;

Iteration X hehe. Gen X is, well, my cohort. I've yet to use the Sisters, but quite like them and hope to toss one into the mix in my current or a future Mage chronicle. I think the dynamic of Sister and Technocrat/budding VA will be fascinating to explore and play around with. Lots of great rp potential there.

Yeah, that's where my comment was pointing to: find a way to use the Web that works for your game. It's especially fitting for a 1-on-1. It's 2018! We don't need all these complications!

Iteration, doh. ^^;;

The Sisters in my game aren't quite as presented in the books - they're more punk/anarchist/feminist than traditional witches. Sam's instruments are things like fashion, social domination and eye contact. Men not welcome in her Chancery.

In my recent chronicles (begun about 5 years ago), 2007's global recession was triggered by the Syndicate trying to win and failing. The Traditions took advantage of this fact and the ubiquity of social media and the internet and made something of a comeback in the face of Technocratic infighting. The Syndicate tried to pin the blame on the VA's, and while this didn't work, the Technos could see VA handiwork playing a major role in the Traditions' return to prominence. The Technocracy redoubled their efforts at finding the Adepts, prompting the latter to lie very low, communicating and interacting with others primarily through holograms and avatars.

Chaos gives you a lot of flexibility and the option to rebalance the state of conflict in favor of whichever side is lagging. Slipping through those cracks will be good training for your aspiring Adept!

Another thing I'll mention that my players often express appreciation for: tying real world events--even seemingly innocuous ones--into the story. They need not have any direct bearing on events or even be obviously part of the Ascension War. But reality has a way of supplying ludicrous, insane, or astoundingly coincidental events ripe for mention or inclusion in a Mage chronicle. I also use a lot of real world persons--the more obscure or unusual the better--in my games in varying capacities. It's usually not obvious to the players; 2 weeks ago one player discovered the true life identity of an NPC I introduced at the chronicle's start about 4 years ago.

The game is set in Seattle, where we live, so definitely including lots of real-life stuff. Good idea about bringing in real events / people / references, I'll try to do some of that as things go on. I definitely know a couple of real places that are Nodes in-game.

Out of curiosity, what is provoking your Virtual Adepts to rebel in 2018? Has virtual reality's inability to take the world by storm (due to the other Technocratic Conventions unwillingness to give it to the masses) played a role? Or perhaps they have a drive to bring about the Singularity that is incompatible with the direction other Technocrats want to go? Maybe transhumanism also figures in in some way? Just curious =)

Basically the same thing that happened to the Sons of Aether - their foundational precept, the freedom of the digital, is being taken away. The end of Net Neutrality, the increasing dominance of Google, the crack-down on piracy and increasing censorship in Europe, are all ramping up the pressure. The breaking point was the end of net neutrality, and the elders of the faction - those who built 80s hacker culture - feeling pity for the younger generation, nostalgia for what's been lost.

"Yes, we've made some awesome things, look how much the web has expanded, but this next generation, they'll never have the same chances we did. No freedom left for them to find themselves. Screw this, let's have a fucking revolution." Complete with the cursing.

It's more of an "every VA for themselves" defection than a top-down whole-convention movement. Plenty of them are staying behind, and the leadership is still negotiating for a place in the Traditions. And oddly enough, the chaos may work in their favor - Control is having a really hard time portraying this as "a few defectors" when it very evidently came from the ground up. Other conventions are getting plenty of chaos in their own ranks - there's more than one Progenitor who's decided he'd prefer to take his chances with one of the Crafts than be told, yet again, no, no flying monkeys. More than one Void Engineer has decided that she'd rather follow her Virtual Adept partner on his way out, and decided to seek a spot with the Sons of Ether.

[Otto D'Fey]

It looks like you're off to an excellent start. Feel free to post or PM me with your progress~

Glad you liked it. I always wonder how many people actually paid attention to my Exalted rewrite. I've sort of given up on 3rd edition, and am currently developing my own system (and setting) from the ground up. One of many projects warring for time right now, along with getting my next computer game out the door. ><;

I've done a fair bit of rewriting and house ruling and likewise feel like I may need to customize the system. But my Ex3 chronicle is really going well--some of my best storytelling, I think. So I'm in it for the long haul.

The Sisters in my game aren't quite as presented in the books - they're more punk/anarchist/feminist than traditional witches. Sam's instruments are things like fashion, social domination and eye contact. Men not welcome in her Chancery.

I like your take. Part of my recent chronicles involved updating the Traditions, especially newly Awakened members, to the internet age. Good ideas there about the VA's and their varying involvement in the revolution. Lots of opportunities to up the "who can you trust" paranoia. Keep at it and have fun! Cheers~

[BlueWinds]

"Who can you trust" was definitely an issue in the second session, very short though it was. Maria, our PC protagonist, plugged the USB stick left to her into a laptop. She thought it was a nice secure linux instillation, but the stick self-executed a 'homing beacon' and played her a video message. Basically, one of her former superiors at the company apologized for dragging her into this and announced that one of his agents would be by shortly to speak with her.

Maria had her first use of a Sphere, securing her laptop against future hacks - it's now firmly under her Awakened control, and not just another node in the sleeper internet. The internet is currently up-and-down. There's a war going on, you see, for the heart of cyberspace, between the loyalists and defectors.

Said agent was Calamity Symthem, a 19 year old who lives up to her name. 50% sugar, 50% sass, 50% unapologetic self-centeredness. Yep, 150%. She sort-of explained the Ascension war, and that the Virtual Adepts (of whom she is a member, albeit a very junior one) invented / discovered the internet, and are currently defected from the Technocracy. She's kind of screwy in the head - on the one hand, she was a technocrat-in-training. On the other, she's a free soul, and her mentor has been shielding her colorful personality from getting too tamped-down by conformity.

Calamity made a really, really terrible sales pitch that Maria should come work for her mentor. Maria was not impressed when Calamity couldn't really properly explain why the VAs are defecting, just that her mentor is on the run and she followed him.

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Couple of questions came up.

Resisting Mind magic - if a mage is aware of the attempt, they can roll Willpower, diff 6 to resist. But if they're unaware... do they really need Mind themselves, and to have an active effect (mind shield) in order to have any resistance at all? I couldn't find anything to cover it in the book, but it seems strange that a WP 10, Arete 5 mage is just as vulnerable to Mind as a WP 2 sleeper, if neither of them know they're being cast against.

How do you usually narrate technomagic? Since I work in computers, I found it difficult to hand-wave things that I know a great deal about. I expect I'll get more comfortable with practice, but I could use some examples of how other people deal with technomagic (and computer-magic in specific) in their campaigns. Technobabble drives me nuts, definitely don't want to just start spouting off computer-ish terms.

[Nonsense]

Regarding Mind magick:
Most Mind magicks have the WP as difficulty, so a WP 10 mage is already difficult to enchant.
Subtle effects may indeed only be sensed with magick (or probably a good awareness roll).
But Prime sensing can also give the spell away. It is rare that something can only be done with a specific sphere.

[Aleph]

Most Mind magicks have the WP as difficulty, so a WP 10 mage is already difficult to enchant.

Also mages get a +3 to diff on virtue of being mages, if I remember my M20 well (something about "mental training"). So that WP 10 mage would be diff 13 to affect - Mind it's hard to use on supers.

[BlueWinds]

Ah, the Mind rules are stashed at the top of the Mind sphere, rather than as part of the general magic or 'resisting magic' stuff. Found it in the book now, thanks all.

For reference: "Resisting Psychic Assaults" on page 544 mentions the Willpower roll, but not the rest of it, which is why I was confused. The difficulty of Mind effects is only mentioned on page 519 - it would be nice if there'd been an asterisk in the Common Magical Effects chart to repeat that Mind often uses WP as a difficulty and the +3 modifier.

[BlueWinds]

Had our third session on Friday. Were planning to go to a party, but that fell through, so we suddenly had a whole evening alone with my girlfriend and nothing to do with the time. Naturally, we decided to play Mage.

Maria's Avatar has changed slightly from its initial conception - it now appears as her reflection, on any reflective surface rather than merely digital ones. It works better in-game, more likely I can have it show up at any given time/place where an Avatar appearance is appropriate.

We also discovered that Maria has Meditation as one of her tools. Throughout the session she kept trying to describe magical effects and how/why they worked, and while the descriptions seemed on point and in character, it didn't really fit any of the existing tools she'd written down - so we erased "Voice", which had seemed a bit shaky with the character as described and added Meditation. Viola, problem soled, and we learned more about how Maria hacks reality.

In the last session, Calamity (the young Virtual Adept) gave Maria a business card containing nothing but an IP address, saying that she should go there to meet with her boss, a far more senior (and likely more reasonable) VA. Calamity then ran out on the check (they were eating lunch), much to Maria's ongoing annoyance.

Back at Sam's house (which is also the Sisters of Hypolita chantry), Maria did some basic research on these new Mages she's run into, and got one of her friends to grab stuff from her apartment (clothes, laptop, toiletries, etc). She found Calamity's name change record (yes, it's her legal name), and the fact that she's been living on her own since 16. As far as Kyung, the senior VA who held some sort of high-up position at Maria's previous workplace, she naturally found nothing.

Time to enter the Virtual Web. Maria went to Sam's bedroom, cobbled together a simple VR rig (she had stuff on hand for this) and started a bit of ritual "magic", meditating to get into the same state of mind she had when she last woke up inside a computer + doing computery stuff to get her VR rig ready. We spent some time going over the rules for magic + rituals, since this was her first time doing one and my first time running one.

Off the cuff I decided she needed three successes on a Data ritual for astral immersion, taking 5 minutes per roll. She decided to take extra time, for -3 difficulty (totally 20 minutes per roll), and I gave her +1 diff because she was trying to do this in a space that's been consecrated for a different type of magic. Her end difficulty was 3 (Data 2 + Coincidental 3 - extra time 3 + 1 Sam's space ), rolling two dice for her Arete. First roll: 1 success. 0 successes. Third roll: botch. Ouch. She's sitting on 3 points of paradox, which I had build up rather than roll for right then.

Sam had just arrived home from getting groceries, and was riding high off a brief encounter with the police. Maria didn't delve into it too much, but it was basically Sam deciding that a homeless guy being harassed by the cops needed some backup and butting her nose in. Cue a short confrontation where she knew more about city ordinances and state law than the police did, plus a subtle hint of Mind, and the cops backed down and let the guy alone. Nothing relevant to the plot, just me getting into Sam's head a bit more. She's was ginning like a cat that's just eaten a canary, and would probably have dragged Maria off to bed if Maria hadn't obviously had other things on her mind.

Aaaaanyway. Maria got a brief explanation of Paradox and the Ascension War, as seen from the perspective of someone who thinks the whole thing is kind of dumb. Maria also got promises that Sam knows someone who can burn her social security number, and maybe get her a new one (Sam's friend can't actually do that - fake IDs, even pretty decent ones, are different from fake identities. Sam is well-meaning, but occasionally obtuse about technology and government). After a brief scramble for money (Maria doesn't want to touch anything from her old life, is convinced the Technocracy are after her), Maria found enough to get by in an old bitcoin wallet she used to use for drug money - enough to get her signed for a shitty apartment, at least. Apartment hunting and getting settled in to her new place took the rest of the day.

The Technocracy isn't after her. They have bigger fish to fry. By the time Maria got ready for another attempt at entering the Virtual web, Google was down. Not just google.com, but everything. The only source of information seemed to be Google's official twitter account - apparently they'd lost control of their DNS stuff, and all google-related traffic was getting black-holed. That's the sleeper explanation. The real one, of course, is that there's a high-energy, full-on violent war going in the Digital Web. Entire sectors are getting whited out or corrupted as the loyalist VAs, along with Iteration X and some Void Engineer cybernauts attempt to seize control over the internet, and the defecting Virtual Adepts respond by crashing everything they don't control.

It's not that the VA are powerful enough to take on the whole Technocracy worldwide - it's that they're powerful enough to take on the whole Technocracy on the internet. It's sort of their thing. Things haven't finished escalating yet - both sides are still gearing up.

Maria, naturally, knows none of this. She succeeds at her second attempt at the ritual, and enters the Digital Web. She creates a medusa looking Icon for herself, and after a bit of texting with Calamity about how to navigate the place, she makes her way towards Keung's virtual location. This involves traversing Mainstream Media Boulevard, a mix of bloggers, mass-media outlets and sleepers all frantically chasing papers blowing in the wind, scribbling a few notes on them, claiming them for their own, and releasing them back into the confusion. There's a hidden hyperlink in the back of the New York Times' editorial section that takes her to Keung's hidout.

Which is corrupted, looking like a flickering mix of counterculture internet cafe and blasted World War 1 battlefield. Maria takes several bashing damage from the corruption as she explores, trying to find any hint of what happened. She locates some of Keung's personal effects and takes them with her for safekeeping, "claiming" them with a Data effect. In the future they'll show up on her person when she enters the digital web astrally, same as her cell phone did.

There's a noise from out front, and a botched Stealth roll later, Maria's face to face with a pair of technocrats, part of a 'repair crew' (all with human-looking Icons) attempting to save this area from permanent corruption. One of them, Friday Lovelace, says "Reality deviant" in a completely deadpan voice (remember, medusa Icon) and sics her familiar on Maria. In real life, it's a robo-puppy, with treads and floppy ears. In virtual space, it's a crab-dog-robot horror, and it goes straight for Maria's face.

The other technocrat, Mark Hammer (don't make the jokes, he's heard them), tells Friday to leave the poor girl alone, and calls her off. Friday shoots him a disgusted look and returns to her business. Mark is here in-person, rather than astrally like everyone else. He attempts to calm Maria, and takes her back inside so none of the other technocrats see her, since he's fairly certain she doesn't mean any harm. He explains that this is a warzone, and why she was attacked. Maria lies through her teeth, pretending complete ignorance about everything - Mark only half-believes this, but gives her contact information, if she'd like to talk sometime under less fraught circumstances. He's going to try to recruit her, naturally, but in a soft and considerate way. He's one of those good-guy technocrats you don't hear too much about - genuinely wants the best for people.

With that Maria logs out, and since I'm yawning, call it a night. Lots of fun!

---

Still sort of setting up a recurring caste - I like to take a lot of time to introduce each new person, give them character and personality rather than just firehosing a ton of NPCs on stage right at the beginning.

It's taking a while for the player to get used to the freeform magic system, but she's definitely liking it. She still doesn't reach for the Spheres as a tool as much as I'd like - sort of have to prod her occasionally to remind her she's playing a Mage when she starts getting lost in "ok, so I want to do X, how can I...".

Next session, I expect she'll do some hacking for money, and maybe meet a VA or two in person. Calamity hardly counts - I love her dearly, but she's more of a walking disaster than a Mage. ^^;;

[Otto D'Fey]

It's taking a while for the player to get used to the freeform magic system, but she's definitely liking it. She still doesn't reach for the Spheres as a tool as much as I'd like - sort of have to prod her occasionally to remind her she's playing a Mage when she starts getting lost in "ok, so I want to do X, how can I...".

I still need to prod my veteran players now and then for the same reason. The open system provides all the flexibility you could ask for, but it doesn't come intuitively, especially when you're new to the game. Looks like you're rolling right along. Have fun!

[BlueWinds]

We had another session yesterday.

The next morning after her technocratic adventure, Maria senses someone trying to track down her phone, and, being pretty good at Data, does unto them instead. She finds a circle of Traditions mages who are searching for the disks she now has possession of. Said circle consists of:

Mike Cavil - Order of Hermes. Orobouros tattoos. Rides a motorcycle. Charismatic. 35.
Craig ForgetHisLastName - Celestial Chorus. 25. Drives a jeep, keeps an assault rifle and flak jacket in the back. Polite. Professional. Has a plan to kill everyone he meets.
Vinaya - Akashik Brotherhood. ~80, but looks in her 50s. Was getting ready to retire beyond Earth when she was called back to serve.
Jinpa - Vinaya's apprentice. Surly. Maria riled him by being pretty culturally insensitive / racist. Whoops. (the player knows better, but Maria is pretty darn awkward sometimes)

After some negotiations, the Maria agrees to give them the disks after she's had more of a chance to look them over. They're interested in the disks because, despite an innocuous seeming appearance, they contain (according to a different Virtual Adept who's negotiating the VA's place at the Tradition table) documents that will help the traditions make up their minds. Maria doesn't know that - Mike was pretty forthcoming about things, but not about that.

Maria's attempt to track down the owner - Kyung, her only Virtual Adept contact - failed miserably. He's been captured by the Technocracy, and tracking him down will take footwork rather than just Data 2, Arete 2.

Looking outside, Maria saw a cop car arrive. Mike went out to stall them, while Craig went to get Maria. We ended the session just as Maria got into Craig's jeep, and a black van pulled up...

---

Next session will include our first combat! It'll be sort of a side note - a few gunshots fired during a car chase, Vinaya (Arete 5 Akashic master kicking some mooks' asses), but I'm looking forward to it. The game so far has been pretty heavy on the talking, pretty light on the action - it's time to bring in a bit more Matrix kung-fu.

It's likely that Maria will end up traveling with this circle of Traditions mages, at least temporarily. Plan is for them to introduce her to Doistep, because, even though she's not really a VA yet, she has almost as much knowledge of the Digital Web as all eight traditions put together. Since, in this timeline, the VAs hadn't defected yet, the Digital Web was a very well kept Technocratic secret and stronghold. Maria's basically the first technomage to awaken that wasn't just snapped right up by the Technocracy.

Which leads to the second point. Unknown to Maria, neither the Technocracy nor the Traditions can find the Virtual Adepts. They've disappeared. Some are still waging a war for the Digital Web, sure, but the rest, the entire bloody convention, have just... disappeared. Mages, support staff, records, everything. Across the entire world, they're just gone. This is creeping everyone out.