cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited March 2011
By the way, backgrounds are more important to me than character sheets.
I'd rather you have the first prepared than the second.
Keep in mind, witch hunts and paranoia are everywhere: if your character's been cozy in their local town or what-have-you, any ties they have to the occult whatsoever could easily lead to them having to pack up and make themselves scarce.
Yeah, I had a concept pretty well put together in my head before I started on the sheet, I just need to take the time to write it out. I also haven't been on the forums much since they've been too busy 3/4s of the time.
Hopefully the forums get more stable before this gets going in full force...
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2011
Well, failing any miraculous rush of character concepts, might be calling this a night.
I think Mage is sort of off putting to some people. It is a bit harder to wrap your head around than the other WoD games. With Vamps and werewoofs people get the gist of it pretty quick. "I get to play a tortured monster, got it. Lets go". But it takes a little while in mage to realize exactly where the downside of having all these bitchin powers is. At first glance it seems sort of like a super hero game that is set in the world of darkness for some reason.
In conclusion, make some characters ya chumps!
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2011
It's very much a World of Darkness game. Consider what happened in Salem. You're gifted above others; making you all the more despised and mistrusted for it.
Not to mention the higher beings your powers draw the attention of.
Oh, I completely agree. Not to mention that every bit of power you learn puts you farther and farther away from humanity. Imagine an archmage of fate who can see how every strand of fate interacts with the world trying to have a meaningful conversation with Steve the trucker. Hell, imagine it with another mage, but who is an archmage of a different type of magic. They still would have completely different mindsets.
Combine that with the mistrust of mortals around you, and the fact that their very presence ruins your spells, and you quickly have a mage spiraling out of control due to isolationism and addiction to knowledge and power.
It's the beginnings of a sheet! The concept is 'influence-seeking religious figure' (I said priest, but given the rise of Protestantism in this period it is likely to be the latter). No idea if a Moros Silver Ladder is some weird oxymoron but it sounds interesting to play. :P
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2011
Any two can work, pretty much. And for fear of sounding like a broken record, backgrounds are more crucial.
Yes, background is something I need to read and re-read to get a better handle on my own guy. Depending on the exact timeframe, it could be possible that he is a minister who sees the sweeping changes of the Reformation (technically the 'end' of same if we are in the late 16c) as a route to introducing the Sleepers to the sort of information that will allow them to overthrow the Lie.
OK, so the first post I saw was cj thinking he would give up, but now things look like going ahead again, here's an application! I've written him up as an apostate Mastigos, but really he would most likely conform with Free Council ethics.
Backgroundy bit (some bits will change when we pin down when/where this all is)
Aloys had been a mercenary in various companies for 17 years; a cunning and ruthless skirmisher with an eye for breaking the lines, and punishing the weakest links. While he was a man of some intelligence (if not education), he rarely comtemplated the morality or reason behind his career; he had a living for now, and if this were to be how his life played out, so be it.
Where some seek enlightenment, others have it thrust upon them. On the morning of battle, Aloys became aware of thoughts that were not his own; they were, in short, all the intense hopes and fears of a novice fighter in his first real battle, just hoping to survive; impulses that had not troubled Aloys to any great extent for some time.
Once battle commenced, Aloys began to feel the heightened tension of a novice; a sensation that both thrilled and terrified him. He gradually became aware that he could sense a source of this pathos and that he had been unconsciously been leading his squad towards it, drawing closer and closer as the two of them battered and cut their way through the writhing horde. Soon he was close, and glowing like a beacon in the pack, he could see the boy whose thoughts he had overheard, and as their eyes met, there was a mutual recognition, but Aloys could not make the connection.
As the boy fumbled with his musket, his panic reaching a crescendo that poured over Aloys like ice water, "The Hound" within smelled its opportunity, and in his usual fashion, Aloys knocked his opponent to the ground and followed through with a thrust of his sword through the boy's chest, dealing him a mortal wound. It was then that he realised how he knew the boy; the boy was...him, fifteen years ago - right down to the second-hand boots.
Overcome with unexpected grief for his foe, for himself, Aloys fell to his knees. He could feel the potential that was lost in that moment and realised his entire life had been a sinful lie; he could conceive of no action but to confesse to his deed. Drawing from his belt a dirk that he had claimed from a dead Scot days before, he scratched into the fallen boy's armor that which he knew to be an absolute truth: "I have killed Aloys Heussler"
The revelations of Aloys' awakening remain unresolved; that his life has been a lie, and that he has willfully wasted so much in the world that could be better. No longer a mercenary, he has become a man in transit, a Hanged Man, unsure of what he is and only sure of what he is not. He is certain that his Awakening is a gift from God with which he is to achieve his true destiny, but cannot see a path in front of him towards it.
Despite offers to join a couple of the Orders, Aloys remains independent of their somewhat conventional principles. When queried, he firmly replies that the path of the Orders is not his path; fighting for the ideals of others is for his past life, not the new. However, this leaves him as he was before; a man with no family, no prospects and a very unclear future.
Its a good setting, but it would really be useful to pin down a year. Being involved in the Jacobite risings on one side or the other would be a big deal in such an area if this is relevant to the period.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
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I have a few supplement books as well, so if something from those is appealing to your character, feel free.
A good one is Magical Traditions, if you have a character hailing from a region with occult history, since it has region-specific rotes and such.
I'd rather you have the first prepared than the second.
Keep in mind, witch hunts and paranoia are everywhere: if your character's been cozy in their local town or what-have-you, any ties they have to the occult whatsoever could easily lead to them having to pack up and make themselves scarce.
Hopefully the forums get more stable before this gets going in full force...
In conclusion, make some characters ya chumps!
Not to mention the higher beings your powers draw the attention of.
Combine that with the mistrust of mortals around you, and the fact that their very presence ruins your spells, and you quickly have a mage spiraling out of control due to isolationism and addiction to knowledge and power.
But I think this would make four; kind of.
(This message written exactly 17 minutes before I pass out and then wake up for at 12 hour work shift)
Aloys Heussler, "The Hound of Memmingen"
Sheet:
http://sheetgen.dalines.net/sheet/10422?message=true
Backgroundy bit (some bits will change when we pin down when/where this all is)
Where some seek enlightenment, others have it thrust upon them. On the morning of battle, Aloys became aware of thoughts that were not his own; they were, in short, all the intense hopes and fears of a novice fighter in his first real battle, just hoping to survive; impulses that had not troubled Aloys to any great extent for some time.
Once battle commenced, Aloys began to feel the heightened tension of a novice; a sensation that both thrilled and terrified him. He gradually became aware that he could sense a source of this pathos and that he had been unconsciously been leading his squad towards it, drawing closer and closer as the two of them battered and cut their way through the writhing horde. Soon he was close, and glowing like a beacon in the pack, he could see the boy whose thoughts he had overheard, and as their eyes met, there was a mutual recognition, but Aloys could not make the connection.
As the boy fumbled with his musket, his panic reaching a crescendo that poured over Aloys like ice water, "The Hound" within smelled its opportunity, and in his usual fashion, Aloys knocked his opponent to the ground and followed through with a thrust of his sword through the boy's chest, dealing him a mortal wound. It was then that he realised how he knew the boy; the boy was...him, fifteen years ago - right down to the second-hand boots.
Overcome with unexpected grief for his foe, for himself, Aloys fell to his knees. He could feel the potential that was lost in that moment and realised his entire life had been a sinful lie; he could conceive of no action but to confesse to his deed. Drawing from his belt a dirk that he had claimed from a dead Scot days before, he scratched into the fallen boy's armor that which he knew to be an absolute truth: "I have killed Aloys Heussler"
The revelations of Aloys' awakening remain unresolved; that his life has been a lie, and that he has willfully wasted so much in the world that could be better. No longer a mercenary, he has become a man in transit, a Hanged Man, unsure of what he is and only sure of what he is not. He is certain that his Awakening is a gift from God with which he is to achieve his true destiny, but cannot see a path in front of him towards it.
Despite offers to join a couple of the Orders, Aloys remains independent of their somewhat conventional principles. When queried, he firmly replies that the path of the Orders is not his path; fighting for the ideals of others is for his past life, not the new. However, this leaves him as he was before; a man with no family, no prospects and a very unclear future.
Also, for more setting details, I'm considering a township at the base of the Pennies range, or thereabouts.
Disclaimer: I have never been to England and have no clue if this is at all practical for a medieval setting. Consider it creative license.
Still working on my sheet!
Here's four people who provided characters!
Three of you need details. If you can conjure up a proper background by the weekend, you may find yourselves in possession of an IC thread.
Sorry CJ! Feel free to toss me a PM if you ever try to start up another pbp wod game.