Big misconceptions

[Primordial newcomer]

Just an innocuous thread concerning what yall believe to be common, but important misconceptions you find the gamelines to have with trying to get new players. This may also be of help if yall are having trouble trying to sell a game to your players

I'll go first with one I had. When I first started reading mage (2nd edition, never tried first), I ended up thinking the supernal and conflict with seers was the main point of the game. And this confused me considering the supernal was this beyond the Abyss and a "higher" plane that is always a rare thing to be in the Fallen world.

On that last note, it was on the forums when Arcane told me outside context enemy of mage the awakening wasn't the abyss, but the fallen world. That, and re-reading the settings chapter, caused me to finally figure out the obvious truth that the Msyteries were ALL things supernatural n the Fallen world, all for the Wise to discover and research and record. This has made the game a ton more diverse to me, and one I hope to play one day.

[Amethyst]

I thought CoD was rules lite. Turns out that’s not exactly the case.

[wyrdhamster]

I thought CoD was rules lite. Turns out that’s not exactly the case.

You clearly did not read Storypath in Scion or Trinity ( not mentioning They Came From ) - Storypath is much more rules lite that CoD 2E - even when they come from the same source rules engine.

[Michael]

In places the system assumes a much stronger cooperative style of play between GM and players than is perhaps immediately obvious. I'm thinking particularly of the Investigation sub-system which is quite a departure from what we might call the traditional divide between the roles of GM and players. For example, it calls for the GM to ask the players to define what clues they find.

[LostLight]

I think my biggest misconception was about Mage where, for some reason, my first impression about the setting was that the Exarchs were actually the good guys who accidently broke the Celestial Ladder as it couldn't handle the stress of Ascension and now they are very sorry for their actions and try to help other mages to Ascend through the use of the Watchtowers... which sounded like a very weird premise for the setting. Which makes sense, as it wasn't.

Look, don't ask me how I got up thinking this was the setting. I blame some Seer propaganda or something.

[Baaldam]

I think my biggest misconception was about Mage where, for some reason, my first impression about the setting was that the Exarchs were actually the good guys who accidently broke the Celestial Ladder as it couldn't handle the stress of Ascension and now they are very sorry for their actions and try to help other mages to Ascend through the use of the Watchtowers... which sounded like a very weird premise for the setting. Which makes sense, as it wasn't.

Look, don't ask me how I got up thinking this was the setting. I blame some Seer propaganda or something.

Good thing the propaganda didn't work for long at least.

(And i can totally see some of their agents throwing around similar fallacies and outright lies as part of a subversion strategy targeted at Silver Ladder initiates)

[Newb95]

I thought CoD was rules lite. Turns out that’s not exactly the case.

Same, to be fair they told me that it was more rules lite than oWoD which is techincally true, combat in particular was the worst part, didn't expect all the bookkeeping with initiative modifiers, merits and whatnot.

[Heavy Arms]

While I have no idea who goes around calling CofD rules-lite, I'd assume a lot of that comes from comparisons to things like D&D, as many of the biggest and most commonly played RPGs are very rules intense, rather than how CofD stacks up in the full spectrum of rules-weight that exists for people that already have a broad range of RPG system experience.

[Tessie]

While I have no idea who goes around calling CofD rules-lite, I'd assume a lot of that comes from comparisons to things like D&D, as many of the biggest and most commonly played RPGs are very rules intense, rather than how CofD stacks up in the full spectrum of rules-weight that exists for people that already have a broad range of RPG system experience.

It could also be because CofD is marketed and presented as a storytelling game, which traditionally ranges from rules-lite to rules-optional. If you have a background in such games (or at least some knowledge about them) it could definitely be quite jarring to see this crunchy, simulationist product of the 90s.

[Primordial newcomer]

I will say another misconception I've seen is the way the Shadow works. There's a surprising number of people who think spirits are pretty stable beings, rather than dynamic and evolving as they prey on other spirits. It's not a big deal if there is no focus on Shadow Ecology, but it does take away from what makes it so unique

[ArcaneArts]

It's been too long since I got into the game to remember my own misconceptions, and I'm pretty lucky to get players who are good at grokking what I lay down with Chronicles, so instead I'm gonna spitball at what I think were some of the more common misconceptions(though some are "changing the core and missing the point") previously and then comment on if I think it's still a problem or not.

Requiem-"You can only play evil people/this game is too dark/bleak/hopeless/evil/boring because of this conception/etc.": I haven't really seen this one in a while-between the blood-slicked cool of the core and the continuing confidence of supplements both official and STV from None More Dark, alongside things like Contagion making a clear show of heroics, I feel like most people grok the headspace of both being a monster and just a person for this game.

Forsaken-"So you're a furry spirit cop?" and "Hey, combat doesn't combat right, what gives?": The former really doesn't come up anymore-2nd Edition has well and murdered that one. The second one still happens a lot-it's kind of shocking how many people don't get how Chronicles combat and violence is supposed to work, I need to get around to writing on that.

Awakening-"Mages are the good guys!/Mages aren't Monsters!/Mage is the occult superhero good guys contrasting the rest of the Chronicles' darkness!": While I don't see this one really cropping up anymore, long experience with the Mage fandom leaves me to assume the number of fans who think this does not hew particularly close to zero.

Created-"Why isn't this more transhumanist?": This argument never goes away, it rises and falls with the related attention to Promethean. Since Promethean isn't really being looked at right now, we're not dealing with it.

Lost-"What do you mean it's not escapist fantasy?/What about non-abusive durances/humane Keepers?": Like with Created, this argument never goes away, though it's a little less tied to the tide of attention. Still, it's not as here as it usually is.

Vigil-"Hunters are the good guys/Hunters aren't monsters!": In a similar boat to Mage, though I think they're more at peace with the actuality of it when confronted with it. Not really a big topic these days.

Sin-Eaters-"Sin-eaters are the good guys!/Sin-eaters aren't monsters!": and a third time, I don't think this ever approaches zero, but I'm more forgiving of it in this case. Not really an open bit of discussion as it used to be, but one never assumes it's away.

Curse-"This game is too limiting!/What about non-Iremite mummies/no Descent/no Judges/Apotheosis as Power/etc?": I actually think the franchise has either turned around everyone still hung on this or successfully proved itself to not be worth the time and attention to fight against it. There'll always be a few hangers-on, but as is, I think Curse has mostly moved past that.

Descent-"Why techgnostic?":I haven't seen this one in ages and it feels so good to say that I safely think it's been put to bed. Might that change with a Second Edition? Don't jinx it for me.

Primordial-actually, I'm so vocal on this subject that you either know what I'm gonna say or have a fun time reviewing the mountain of spilled ink I have on it.

Deviant-Actually, honestly, most of the misconceptions just comes from how fiddly the system can be, and I get that.

Despite more or less the consistent tenor, I feel like the community has either figured out or come to peace with the Chronicles' actual text in all but one case, and I get the whys behind that one case.

[Yossarian]

...continuing confidence of supplements both official and STV from No More Night...
case.

<cough>None More Dark</cough>

[ArcaneArts]

<cough>None More Dark</cough>

No idea what you're talking about.

my apologies.

[Second Chances]

I will cop to having been in the "Mages aren't monsters" camp a looooooooong time ago (like, in the pre-GMC days). 2e did a huge amount to fix my engagement and understanding of that game.

[reaperfrost8]

It's been too long since I got into the game to remember my own misconceptions, and I'm pretty lucky to get players who are good at grokking what I lay down with Chronicles, so instead I'm gonna spitball at what I think were some of the more common misconceptions(though some are &quot;changing the core and missing the point&quot previously and then comment on if I think it's still a problem or not.

Awakening-&quot;Mages are the good guys!/Mages aren't Monsters!/Mage is the occult superhero good guys contrasting the rest of the Chronicles' darkness!&quot;: While I don't see this one really cropping up anymore, long experience with the Mage fandom leaves me to assume the number of fans who think this does not hew particularly close to zero.

Vigil-&quot;Hunters are the good guys/Hunters aren't monsters!&quot;: In a similar boat to Mage, though I think they're more at peace with the actuality of it when confronted with it. Not really a big topic these days.

These do crop up from to time from other places outside the forums specifically the mage one and wisdom.

As for my personal misconception I usually assumed that mummies sekhem drained really fast due to how other people kept pushing the whole just wait until your low leveled I played it myself and realized it wasn't that big of a problem especially realizing that you have access to your tier 3 until you hit sekhem 5 and 4.