Developing the Fear 2: Man Plans, Fate Laughs

So, the time is nearly upon us. New Chronicle. That time in the Mind's Eye Society (nee' Camarilla) where all of the stories go back to the beginning. Everything is rebooted, and we all make new characters. I have been preparing for the New Chronicle in one form or another since August of last year, building and defining ideas for my characters in the various venues as well as the setting for Mage. I have built, organizes, planned and disseminated information.

One of the projects I've been working on is a setting document for the venue. It started when the Changeling the Lost ST made one, and then every other Storyteller in the room (past and present) collective said "I hate you". So I made one, aided and abetted by said Lost ST Abby with assistance from my friends and fellow players Brandon, Ephraim, Greg and Matt. It's pretty cool and I love to share:

The Supernal Stage Handbook

But, that being said. I still don't feel prepared. In fact, two weeks before game goes live, I'm pretty fucking terrified. These are my fears

The first is that The game tanks. Mage just isn't that popular of a game in the city (or really the Region). Most of the players are those who loving LARPing in general (god love em) but in a town where studio space costs to play it gets to be a matter of "Can we afford to hold this small game that isn't bringing much of anything in?" I know I'm a lone few who can say this, but I love Mage and would actually be disheartened if I couldn't play/run in it. I've been dealing with the Coordinator in making concessions to keep Mage strong, as well as trying to use the small size as a way to recruit people into the club. It's a shitty feeling knowing your game is on the chop block, but this is actually something I will fight for to keep.

2) You know that handbook I just posted? All of that material and background going for shit. I don't know how, I don't know where, but just the thought of that amount of work being disregarded. It's just a fear from last chron where there was no sense of personal agency and everything had to be doled out to the players. A few of them are playing a very "a Mage can  be an island". My counter point, and ultimately my plan to prevent this is to remind them that "For those that remember Atlantis, Mages have never had any sort of luck with islands." I plan on making an invested plot for each one, bringing them in a bit further. But this is going to be a lot on me, and I hope I can do the job.

I don't know, I hate this feeling. I've prepped, I prepared, I love this venue, but I feel like I have less of a clue now than I did in October.

Man plans, Fate laughs. And Fate is a very active things in Mage.

later