Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Innkeeper, or 'how to love the plot bus'

Larpforge put out a video recently discussing the role of the Inn Keeper in Larps. Inn Keepers, as well as Inns, have been popular since the concept of the medieval role playing game. So much so that the phrase: you all meet at an Inn is a running joke in RPGs and LARPs. The players meet at, gain their main plot from, or adjourn to the local Inn once their quest is completed. The other is You all meet in Prison, but that's for a different subject entirely.

There's truth in television on this. Inns, Taverns, Cafes, Bars, Pubs and all manner of facilities where food and drink can be gained for cheap and accessible to the general population are storehouses of gaining information, contacts, and generally to rest without having to immediately worry about where the next fight will be.

This trope plays out everywhere in fantasy. Gandalf and Thorin meet at an Inn, setting in motion the events of the Hobbit, which in turns sets in motion the entirety of the Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Co. meet Aragorn at an Inn, changing the tone of the books from more than just a journey and into a fight for Middle Earth. Luke and Obi-Wan meet Han and Chewie at Chalmun's Cantina, where you are introduced to at least two dozen alien species and the notion that Luke is a bit out of his field. Harry Dresden often meets his contacts or to negotiate with normally opposing parties at Mac's, a tavern accorded neutral status....he also does some of his planning at Burger King or IHOP when needed. The main framing story of The Kingskiller Chronicle takes place in the Main Character's tavern, and all of the information we receive from the outside world, culture and stories comes from the outside of it. When the plot happens, the villagers come to the tavern to talk about it...and some of the plot sometimes comes in with it.

And at the Center of all of these is an Inn Keeper. For Lord of the Rings you had Barliman Butterbur, who has a tendency to forget a lot, but does know a Ranger when he sees one, and then helps the Hobbits in escaping Nazgul incursion. Chalmun's Barkeeper doesn't do much, but he does point out several things that tell us about the local culture: 1) Droids aren't served there and 2) No Blasters are to be used there. Mac provides a safe haven for all the supernatural creatures, and while he's been spotted in nearly every book, he has only spoken a handful of lines in all of them, becoming a plot point himself.

Inns and Inn Keepers are the traditional way of handing out plot to players. The modern term in gaming is "The Plot Bus". You wait for the Bus to show up, and you get on or you don't. Because of the ubiquitous nature of Inns, and the amount of people coming in and trading stories, rumors and making deals leads to a very easy means of distributing plot. The Inn Keepers become adminstrators of that function, the ones who hold it together and either embody those tropes of providing safe haven, information, and culture. They are an indispensable tool for the GMs/Storytellers.

Traditionally, Innkeepers are NPCs, created and played by the Game Staff to interact with the players. This makes a bit of sense as you want to make sure your plot is put forward as best as possible. But there are some instances where players serve that role. In the World of Darkness games we play in Mind's Eye Society, these characters don't normally exist as actual Innkeepers, but either through their talent or trade are able to receive information and have the ability to disperse it to the other players.

In Vampire: The Requiem my character, Owen, built the Hotel Monolith: a fictional monstrosity of a building meant to house and disperse plot as needed. I had made it as a means of facilitating meetings, outright referring to it as a plot bus-stop. It's worked, though with the elevated body count, Owen has had to restrict access to the Hotel for gatherings or else risk the Masquerade being breached and Vampires being exposed to the public.

However, Owen was recently made Seneschal of New York. His job is to be a go between between the Prince of New York and the rest of the population. During the last game, his first night on the job and since the Prince's Player was absent he in fact held Praxis, he coordinated all of the plot points happening that night, sending those that were equipped to deal with it to deal with it and making sure the general gathering was still having a good night. As someone who generally plays Investigators and Explorers

In Changeling, my character Jin works in one of the Goblin Markets, spaces where anything and everything is for sale. This gives him access to information coming in and out of the Hedge, sometimes before the other players do as Goblins are native inhabitants of the Hedge. It also grants him the opportunity to find rare items that could be important to plot.

Finally, and favorite, in Accord I have my Mage, Rhys. Rhys can speak to Cities, he can view their past and feel the energy from them. With a bit more of skill (and about 100 more xp) he'll be able to get premonitions while walking through the streets. His magic is tied directly into locating, discovering, and examining items in the environment. Since however he's not someone who fights, his job is to get back to the others and give them the information.

These are examples of Theater Larp games, but in Boffer Larps you have actual places that can be Inns and you have people to actually play Inn Keepers. In Dystopia Rising's New Jersey game, The Double Tap is a major hub of gathering, where the rules of the town are displayed, where jobs are posted, where new people can sleep, and generally where drinks are gotten. It's rare to go a night at the Double Tap when a group of survivors aren't sitting out on the porch, smoking hookah and drinking hooch (ie; not real booze, it's a dry game). They're there, almost waiting for the Zombies to show up, and while that's going on, all of the wacky characters inside the bar have time to play. I saw one character, whose sanity and status as a Priest is in equal questionable material, very subtly marry a couple in the middle of a deluded tirade. The room went from flippancy, to confusion, to bachelor/ette party fairly quickly and in equal measure.

What is interesting is that the Inn Keepers of the Double Tap (I'm pretty sure anyway) were PCs. There is an actual profession that PCs can take that is straight up "You run this place" called Publicans. You're dealing with the plot just as much as the other characters, but you are the front man to a central place. In the few times I went to their game (note: it's been nearly a year since my last game), these have been players who have brought their own material and have been doing this, from what I can tell (Anyone from DR can correct me) for years.

This tracks, as the people who are playing Inn Keepers, or really any kind of people who handle the Plot Bus regularly are people the STs can trust. They have a vested interest in the venue and take their time out to show responsibility to the game and to the players around them. Playing a character whose function it is to bring others around you requires a level of trust on all sides. It can't be about your PC, or even you. You're effectively telling the STs you're willing to make your story the games story to a degree. That's a heavy responsibility.

But essentially, what the inn represents in Larp is it's sense of community. People will meet and gather and share their stories, and create their own. An Inn houses this concept perfectly and neatly. A cadre of adventurers telling their stories, their very presence building the pressure in the air like static, making even the smallest spark able to light up the area.

Actually, that gives me an idea

Later.



Monday, February 17, 2014

Five Years Ago

I'd been saving this story for quite a while now, in what eventually got me involved in Larping. It ironically had nothing to do with Larping, it just happened.

So, five years ago, there was a young man. Fresh out of college. He was a geek, and he was only just realizing this. It wasn't that he didn't know he was a geek, it was that he didn't have a proper outlet growing up. He was a ghost in school, he showed up and did his work (or sometimes didn't, if it bored him) and then went home. He went home and he wrote and so on and so forth. Then he went to college, and eventually his roommate got him involved with the theater program. And this was one of the first times he was surrounded by a group of people who he could talk to without feeling so different. And even when things were awkward, they celebrated it.

When he graduated and came back home, he realized that he didn't have that outlet any more. He was back to being alone, but he'd made friends and contacts online over the years, including the fan forums for author Jim Butcher. On the site were some of Jim's Beta Readers, Priscilla, Richard and his wife Sue. They met, and they got along, and they hung out. And once again the young man felt connected, and felt like the things in his head made more sense. With them, he went to his first New York Comic Con in February of 2009, and that was when his life changed again.

One of the scheduled performers was a group called "New York Jedi", a fan group that specialized in fight choreography using lightsabers. The walls of fandom bled with them as Jedi and Sith came from the usual places like Corellia, Coruscant, Tattooine or Hoth, but worlds like Krypton, Gallifrey, Arrakis, and worlds that only existed in the minds of the people in the group. I saw fights that showed off martial prowess, comedic timing, and a flare for the theatrical.

I was in love. Between the theater experience in college and years of martial experience, I wanted to do this, to tap into something and express myself after years of just...existing.

I should point out that this wasn't a Larp. Larps are acting and scenes for the benefit of each other as audience. This was theater, we had traditional audiences. But there was a level of roleplay involved. We made our characters, some of us from wholecloth, we added them to written or acted out scenes and we built on them from one another, evolving our characters and sometimes changing their costumes from those scenes.

So creativity, martial activity, and the chance to perform in front of other geeks. Exited, I did what you'd expect me to do: I blogged about it. I know! Shock! Except my site of choice was Livejournal back when it was the only thing around. I blogged about the fights, and two in particular. Then one night after the con, I got a message from one of the members of the club whose fight I commented on. The next night, I got an IM from her fight partner. They found me through my blog and invited me to come to a class with them.

Incidentally, these two were my friends Brandon and Jenna Hughes, both of whom would follow me to Requiem eventually. Brandon is our current VST there, and Jenna is playing the Prince of New York.

But before that, there was just the invitation, and I was tempted.

So on February 19th, 2009, I went to my first class. It was taught by Maria, also known as Azure Dragon. She taught us beginning attack patterns, how to chain them and make them look like a fight. She then taught us one of the Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat, a martial art that was mentioned in the star wars books and that one of their members had created. It was a legitimate, honest to god sword form, added with the mystique that this was something from the world we were playing in (or at least based on).

But I remember going to that class, nervous to the point of being sick. Anxiety. What the hell was I doing there? Playing make believe with glowing sticks and funny costumes. What if I fucked up? What if they laughed, what if I wasn't good enough.

But they were welcoming, and they were cool and I became an active member. My lightsaber was in the mail that week, and what would become my first PC was being created.
"I may have started that riot...may have"


Rave was a Jedi Shadow, part of the Jedi Order that served as an internal police force against Jedi who join the Dark Side. They were internal affairs, they were the KGB. They were from the novels of books around star wars that never saw the light of day in the movies. Rave grew disgusted with the order, not for the constant suspicion of each other, but because his office existed in the first place. He could not reconcile his station and the will of the Jedi. So he left the Order, and worked on his own. He was still a member of the Light, he just was not a Jedi. He fought old comrades, made new ones, and even held unsteady truces with the Sith, even taking one as a friend and another as a lover. He fought monsters, all the while dealing with the secrets of his own life.

During that time, I began writing. I began writing Rave's story, I began writing stories featuring other characters. I began writing in chapters, and novels and my writing began to get better with every chapter, to the point where you could see the difference just by reading it. And then I began writing for the group. I wrote one play, Poker Night, set around a Sith bar with them telling stories about their clashes with Jedi. It premiered on December 5th, 2009 to a packed house. I've written two other such shows with another still in development as a dream gig.

Most impressively, I wrote about the Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat. A document that discussed how to develop the fictional martial arts for lightsabers into real styles, as I had learned from the form I was taught. Currently, that paper has spread around the various clubs and enclaves, and fans. It has been in the hands of Nick Gillard, who choreographed the fights for the prequels. I have received emails thanking me for writing it, and telling me they joined the community because of the paper. I have become something of an authority in this community. God save them all.

So how does this lead to larping?

During my time there, several of my friends introduced me to the concept of live action role play. It was a more serious take on an aspect we did for Jedi. I mentioned I was interested, wanting to explore more character work and more story ideas. So, like an true geek lineage, I was given the entire pdf Library of Vampire the Requiem. From there I began researching the role I wanted, the character. Vincenzo Taglia of the Ordo Dracul came into being. And I've thrown myself as much into this field as I have the other. And I was still a nervous wreck walking in, wondering what happened if I fucked up, what the hell was I doing there. Meanwhile I've learned more about reaction, performance, staying in character, improvisation than what most people get. Some people talk about these things from a theoretical sense, Larping is all about the practical.

Things have come full circle, as I am now in the beginning stages of preparing a freeform Star Wars larp with several of my friends and colleagues. I'd made Star Wars a source of research that I'm helping to translate that information to the needs of the game. It's an interesting process and one that I hope we can get off the ground.

I am also cast to play MacDuff in a Star Wars inspired rendition of MacBeth. It's directed by my friend Melissa Koval, a member of New York Jedi (now New York Lightsaber Academy). It's fight captain is by fight choreography veteran TJ Glenn and is cast by the members of New York Jedi. Proceeds will go to Concourse House. It's interesting in that I've taken the experience of the past five years, both in Jedi and in Larping, and have put it into a performance. 

In the end, the past five years have been an odd roller coaster. Through New York Jedi, I learned to embrace my inner geek, to embrace the part of me that enjoys to create and enjoys to share in that creation in a communal setting. Because of them I have seen and done things that few would ever admit, because of them I have met people I am glad to call friends. Few of whom I accept as family. Because of them I am in this subculture of larping, like a gateway drug it lead me here. Because of the club, I actually learned to accept a lot about myself and strive to do more.

And I wish to do more.

Thank you all for letting me in on the madness.

Later.
"Long Live the Fighters"





Saturday, February 15, 2014

You All Meet In a Tavern...a Dream, and Discussion on larping venues

It was a discussion we had years ago, my friends Brandon, Juan and I. To make a bar designed only for geeks. We'd have drinks named or based on science fiction drinks, Klingon Bloodwine, Pangalactic Gargle Blasters, and a drink that's...that's...

It is Green
Thank you, Data.

We wanted a place where geeks and nerds could mingle and talk and drink and have fun together. To celebrate being geeky, to make it an okay thing to go out on a saturday night, get drunk and talk about your lvl 50 paladin on WoW or to have DDR booths the way some places have shitty karaoke booths.

It was a nice dream.

Over the years getting involved in Larp culture, my vision of the place expanded. In New York, we really don't have a dedicated place for Live Action Role Play, we tend to borrow studio spaces, friend's apartments, anywhere that can have us and that can hold as many of us. Some times it isn't ideal. Some times the people we're sharing the floor with are loud, or require us to not be loud. Some times the bars we're in like to crank their music to get people less talking and more drinking, or there just aren't enough spaces for people to go to when they need to break out of scene or character, or for Storyteller's to do side actions.

So I imagined a bar that would be, at first, the spitting image of an old world tavern. With a similar aesthetic. Imagine walking into the Inn of the Prancing Pony, getting a drink there and meeting a bunch of people, getting to know them, intermingling news and information and gossip?

Then when it got time for business, you move from the main tavern to the other rooms/floors, where the scenery changes to a number of things:

- a corporate boardroom/offices of the modern age.

- a throne room

- a second, more modern, pub.

- Bridge of a starship

- Lab

- Whatever setting we can fit into the space.

These spaces would be for rentals out to games, either Larps, gaming events like Magic the Gathering, or conference space (hello Living Games). Spaces just for them to do what they have to do for their games. They'd go to the tavern for soft roleplay or hanging out, they go to the side rooms to play games. No need to side step normals, no need to play covertly while barmaids are harassing you for your drinks or orders while apologizing for not being able to keep the music down. The space was for you, and it'd always be for you.

Lately, as I've been reading more and more into the academic side of larping and role play, I've heard it being referred more often than not a subculture. That struck me. We are a subculture. We're not just a bunch of people with a strange hobby, we're a culture. We have our own language, our own codes of conduct and rituals. What we rarely have is a consistent place to meet, or a friendly place to meet safely. It's either the dance studio rental space, or a friend's apartment, or the backrooms of gaming stores, or sneaking scenes in bars, classrooms, in rented camp grounds.

People, blessed people, have made larping villages that can be used the whole year round. These are usually out in the woods, or in rural settings. Why can't we have something like this for an urban setting?

This is a dream that I know others share, I've spoken to some of them about it. This should be something that happens, not just in terms of convenience for games, but for being a safe haven for gamers and the burgeoning culture we've found ourselves in.

Who else shares that dream?

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The Magic Circle

In my last post, I talked about playing Grand Theft Auto, a game notorious for it's violence. It's the go-to game for all the censorship movements stating that it promoted violent acts by impressionable teenagers.

Allow me to state my belief that it doesn't, and those that do violence because some video game inspired them are already demented and have a low reality matrix to start off with.

What I've always felt that video games have been able to allow was a sense that this is a place where things were allowed to be explored. I play video games like GTA to vent my frustration in a place where it hurts no one, including myself or others. I play games like Halo for similar reasons. I play games like Alan Wake, Skyrim and others to allow myself to think in different ways about storytelling and possibilities.

Games allow people to think in ways that they normally wouldn't or shouldn't in the rules that they have designed and developed. This extends to Larps as well. Most of the games I've played have been adult themed in their nature. Vampire the Requiem are all about creatures of the night that use power, sex, influence and corruption as tools. The act of feeding itself has certain connotations if you're willing to think about it. Changeling the Lost is a game I've been reminded of Recently as being "Changeling the PTSD" where all of the characters are damaged mentally and emotionally and every action is in some way to deal with it. Mage is all about power and corruption potential, and how that can change an individual as time goes on. Dystopia Rising is about horror and survival, and horrible things are waiting for the survivors, and horrible things are sometimes all the survivors can do.

These are dark situations, and the breeding places for dark situations. And we, as people of various backgrounds, come together to share in those ideas and to explore with one another. I'd felt that early on, but didn't have a name for it. Reading the works of Bowman and Beltran, I do have a word for it now, and in many ways it's apt: The Magic Circle, the safe space for us to place ourselves in worlds we would normally never discuss, or even conceive of. A place of safety, security, and ultimately of unity.

I like this concept. I like it a lot. Larping is a weird hobby, by a lot of people's standard's, let alone our own. I have friends who are magnificent role players but, due to personal/professional/cultural concerns, cannot be open that they do this as a hobby. Some people use Larping as a Social network, some as a means of exploring aspects about themselves. Some use it as a platform to perform, some use it as a means of showing cleverness and dominance.

Of course, this leads to the question of "What is acceptable to enter the magic circle?" It depends on the game in question, and those playing it. A lot of people tend to forget this, but my friend Chris put it beautifully, Larping is a Social Contract. You go in knowing that certain things are and are not acceptable, depending on the game and the group, or at least that's how it should work. Some of the games I've played have been open to everyone, with different agendas and plans. This leads to interesting synergy, but may distract from the work or goals the game wants to put forth (if that is in fact the goal).

So how do we make the Magic Circle a safe space to do what we do? Here are my ideas

1) Make your intended goals clear and honest. This is for the gamerunners and the players. Tell what you expect out of the game, what you expect out of each other.

2) Meet, Discuss. A lot of games have debriefing sessions afterwards. Not just a few words at the end, but discussions with others in a controlled setting to discuss what happened, from both sides.

3) Be mindful. You aren't in this process alone. None of us are. If we were...this wouldn't be a Larp.

4) Accept. Sometimes, a space isn't right for you. Sometimes you grow out of it, some times your understanding has changed from the others, or vice versa. It's alright to acknowledge that it's safe to move on to find another game and a place.

5) Repeat These on a Constant Basis. Allow for members old and new to be able to pickup, voice and work together in their process, both the good and the bad.

As a (albeit unemployed) counselor, I've done a lot of group therapy sessions where this is all we've done. We've shared our emotions, our process with one another. We've exchanged our intentions and our goals with one another and, if with a bit of luck, we're able to help the clients come to an understanding, or at the very least a sense of progress.

It's healthy to have a space where one can do what one wishes to accomplish, a space where they won't be judged if they try something different or weird. We are a subculture (and I believe in my heart that we are very much a subculture and not just a hobby) that embraces the different and the weird, celebrating it and making it a part of who we are. You can see this in large scale games, with hundreds of people. At conventions where one game or multiple are played out, or even in small rooms where a handful of friends are doing scenes together. We're a subculture born of other subcultures, meeting in a place where we can join ideas and create something.

The reasons I like this phrase, The Magic Circle, is because we are in many ways doing just that. Magic. We're coming to a safe space to become other people in a setting that is not usually our own, to converse with those who have also come to this setting. It's a place where a lot of things are possible, depending on the intent of the group at large. When it works, you feel it, when it doesn't, you feel it too.

Later.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Grand Theft Auto 5: A Storytelling Review

Recently, I finished playing Grand Theft Auto V, the fifth canon game in the Grand Theft Auto series. Depending on who you are, you think that's okay or that I'm a potential psychopath. I am a potential psychopath, but this game has never been needed to diagnose that from me.

What struck me so much about this version of the game was it's storyline. That's saying something when all the protagonists in the series are depicted as mercenary thug types who steal, kill, and have sex with whatever they want. I remember when the games were with barely named protagonists who didn't say a word, which then evolved into Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, when Ray Liotta began voicing the hero and giving him a life of his own. This then turned into GTA: San Andreas, where the world around the protagonist was just as fleshed out, with Samuel Jackson actually giving a damn good vocal performance as the main antagonist. But even then it was the world of the game, this fleshed out entity with radio stations and moguls and gangs and organizations that delved into the character

Grand Theft Auto 4 was when the world met a compelling character Story. The story of Niko Bellic, a Serbian ex soldier/criminal who came to America (more specifically the New York-based city of Liberty) based on a lie and trying to find stability and redemption for past misdeeds. By the end of the game, he has gained and lost so much that you can't help but feel bad for a guy who didn't really ask for any of this.

Grand Theft Auto V takes this further by adding two more protagonists to the game, each with their own strengths (such as driving, stealth, melee, shooting, flying and so on). At various points being able to jump from character to character, some times during the same missions, allowing for different styles of play to take place. And there are different levels of play here, but stats have nothing to do with it. Each character is distinct, both in their stories and their personalities as they traverse the LA and surrounding counties of Los Angeles-based city of San Andreas.

The characters are:

Michael De Santa: A former bank robber who ten years ago walked out of a heist with a lot of money and a faked death. He moved from the Fargo-esque town of Ludendorff with his wife and kids into the mansions of North San Andreas. His family, an adulterous wife, a spoiled daughter and a lazy son, all take turns in belittling a man who has nothing to do but sit and drink at his pool while watching the sun go down while wasting money with his opportunistic psychologist.

Trevor Philips: Michael's former partner in crime, who appears later in the game. Trevor is an erratic arms and meth dealer in the deserts of Blaine County. He admits he does things not for the money, but because at the moment he wants to. He's Chaotic, either Good, Neutral or Evil depending on the situation. Trevor believed Michael to be dead for the past years, and during game battles the urge to make that permament.

Franklin Clinton: A street hood from South San Andreas. Franklin wants out of the gangbangin business and into the hills. This is hampered by his best friend's, who all use him to get by on small time stuff (drug dealing, filling in for someone's tow truck job while they feed their crack addiction, etc). When he gets his opportunity, he starts to learn the rules of the game outside of gang on gang, and that changes his world a lot.

In the story, we're first introduced to Michael and Trevor ten years ago, in the incident that made everyone think Michael was dead and made Trevor a wanted fugitive. The story is then handed off to Franklin, who is at the beginning of his career of crime. Eventually, we are reintroduced to Michael, learning what his new life has earned him (spoiler: nothing good) and then eventually Trevor, who learns that Michael wasn't nearly as deceased as he thought. The stories intersect and cross at various points, sometimes breaking off when the characters have done something that would garner them attention from others.

In terms of the protagonists being protagonists, it's an interesting slope. Trevor's story doesn't really have a resolution. There is no end game for him except for what the player decides. This is in keeping with the fact that he has large, broad plans but no end goal. He wallows in chaos and feeds off the next thing that comes to mind. Michael on the other hand just wants to pay off his debts and keep his family from killing him or themselves while still finding some meaning in his life.

Michael and Trevor's main stories at one point come to a halt as they hash out the problems from ten years ago. This is what changes the game and it's one of the only times in a game where two protagonists face off against each other. Trevor is an unabashed sociopath while Michael did what he had to do for his family, including betraying Trevor and his old life. That is Trevor's pay off, and part of Michael's. Franklin comes off as the major protagonist, as his life changes the most sharply as time goes on and his decisions change the ending, of which there are three.

The endings change the context of everything that has gone on before it. Is it a story of victorious retribution and redemption? Is it the tragedy of a mal-adjusted psychopath? Or the tragedy of a man who tried to have it all and had nothing in turn. This makes the story itself sometimes erratic in which way they want to go. Sometimes the protagonists are seen in positive lights, some times negative. There doesn't seem to be much consistency in it. It also leads to a confusing pool of antagonists, with there being two main ones, and several auxiliary that only appear a handful of times.

What I found most interesting was that my attitude towards playing was different depending on who I was playing as at the time. Grand Theft Auto is a game notorious for picking up hookers and killing them afterwards to take their money. I didn't actually encounter any of that as any of my characters, because each had some sense of moral propriety. I committed the least amount of violence as Franklin, instead focusing on cars and racing (his specialty), Michael was a situational basis, if accidents happened that lead to violence. Trevor was the most violent, aided and abetted by his ability to enter rages that raise his ability to give and take damage to  extreme levels.

I found this interesting to watch, that the violence was less permissible as I viewed the character. Franklin only used violence during missions where that had to happened, Michael only as the situation arises, and Trevor when things started getting violent. I wonder if other people found that. TV Tropes lists it as Player Cruelty Potential, and I found, as much as I did with Niko in his game, that the more I sympathized with them and found them to be less extreme the less violent they were, wheras is previous games where the protagonists were little more than walking excuses to do harm, I allowed myself to do more.

I know what I'm saying sounds crazy, and that I'm talking about allowing myself to be violent and crazy and brutal. But this game allows that, and that is my subject for my next blog: The Magic Circle and Safe Spaces for exploring strange phases.

Later

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Hogwarts it ain't, a discussion on Magic in Mage the Awakening

This week, I worked on a scene with my players. They wanted to do an action against the Seers of the Throne, fellow Mages who collectively make the Illuminati look like a gossip circle at recess. Their goal was to use Mind Magic to enter their mind's and take out valuable information.

They were successful, to a point. It wasn't until the Seers got hip to it that things went south. A bunch of close calls, and a player action that inadvertently helped the antagonists lead to the Seers escape from harm.

Actually, I've got to mention the action. The scene took place on the shoreline of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. It initially began as a group of Mages pooling their Space magic to Scry on the Seer. In his bid to stop one of the Seers, the Scrying window (which can only observe) was turned into a Portal (which can be walked through), and one of the Matter Mages jumped through it. He turned the street he and the Seer were standing on from concrete to dandelion seeds using Matter Magic. This worked, and both he and the Seer descended into the freezing water of the Bay. However, this got the Seer out of line of sight of the Space Mages he knew were responsible for the scrying window and the portal, allowing him to escape without major difficulty.

The Matter Mage's player and I spoke, and he expressed his dissapointment. He wasn't sure how that could have, in any way, gone any better. As if they were impossible to beat.

They weren't actually. There were alot of close calls. The Seer that escaped left hemmorhaging because his teleportation spell went wrong. The major thing was that the Seers were prepared for a magical attack. I told the player that if someone actually drew a gun and kneecapped the asshole, he'd have had better luck than if he had used magic.

I think a lot of the problem is that many see Mages as a one for one type character. I have a thing, I do a thing, problem solved. In other systems like D and D, that's normally the case. Except this is Mage, where everyone has the potential access to the exact same magical skillset as you. You aren't just chucking fireballs at a person, you're potentially playing chess against them. Point, Counterpoint, Contingency, Reply. If I know Matter Magic and I attack a Matter Mage, he can counter, trying to cancel out my spell or lower it's effects. Sometimes it's easier to bum rush him physically than actually taking on someone with straight up magic.

That's one of the reasons why when someone tells me their character and I ask what can they do? I don't mean their magic, I mean what can they do outside of magic? That 1) Tells me what they'll lean towards with their magic and 2) Tells me a lot more about their character. These people weren't born to magic, so it makes no sense that that's all they can do.

So, in the interest of time, here is Craig's Tips For Using Magic in Awakening

1) What is your role? Are you a Healer? An Explorer? A Fighter? A sniper? Are you a researcher? An Administrator? A Tactician? That flavors how you do your magic, not the other way around. My Mages are often explorers and intel gatherers, seeking depth and understanding and using that. Their Magic is usually based around that as well.

I mention this because I have had a lot people answer What does your character do? by answering with their magic. Don't do this. Tell me what, if your character was human, would they be qualified to do? And what they wouldn't be qualified to do. It adds flavor and context to a magic system, and considering that this is a game where the sky is the limit on what you can do, flavor counts.

2) Your opposition are other Mages. With very few exceptions, you're most likely dealing with other Mages. That means that there is a very good chance that your opposition has the same skillset magically as you do. This makes life so much fucking complicated. Consider that a lot of the magic is also good at mitigating itself, and this can get tedious pretty quickly if the pulls are right.

3) Tactics, tactics, fucking tactics. Going in blindly against another Mage you've no knowledge about is a last ditch effort. Intelligence, planning, and precision are actually the best methods. A good mage assault should be like that...a tactical assault. Knowing what the opposition can do helps in mitigating what they can do against you, and this becomes doubly important if they are of higher power ranking than you or have a decidedly perilous Legacy, which cannot be mitigated as easily and requires special consideration.

A case in point. I play a character who is an urban explorer. What this means is that I can gain information about the history of a location, and a taste for the overall energy in the area. I can potentially learn about things in the present, the way to get around me is to be mobile, or to begin cloaking in time and space, and putting up false signals and clues. And doing a lot of, at the time, really unnecessary things. But it helps keep me off the scent, and buys you enough time.

I'm my own worst enemy.

4) Old Tricks are the best tricks. Sometimes, simply going around the magic is the best way of taking out the Mages. Mages are human, they require (to various degrees) food, water, shelter, and their internal organs and blood to remain internal. Taking those away will most likely take the Mage out of the equation, or leave them vulnerable. This is why most Mage fights begin in Proxy Wars where they use mortals to take assault them in ways where magic would just complicate matters. Siccing the cops on Mages is a great way to tie their hands as anything they would do risks drawing attention to them.

5) Paradox is the great equalizer. Paradox is what happens when you pull on Realities Strings too hard and the Abyss notices. Paradox can cause a lot of problems on a truly Lovecraftian level, or can cause massive amounts of damage. It affects all Mages, even those who worship the Abyss. That means that throwing around Magic, while effective, is potentially dangerous for all considered. That is something that needs to be considered in all means.

This all leads me to point 6)

Mage is not about what you can do with Magic. So you're a Mage, congratulations, so are most of the people in the room. Mage is about what Magic can do to you, how it changes and enhances who you already are, and how you think. It opens up a new level of how you do what you already do. If you're a set of magic abilities with a body attached, congratulations, you're a glass bomb waiting to blow.

Don't take that the wrong way, so long as you're willing to accept you're going to go off eventually.

Later.