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A Scelesti On The Roof:
As one of my Mages correctly pointed out last week (everyone say ‘Hi Neils!’) I ended the previous game session on a pretty tense note. Everyone saw (through their varying Mage and Werewolf sight abilities) that things were about to get real. There was a heavy weight of Death shrouding the city, the Spirits were fleeing the area as best they could, Fate was all a flutter, Time was both wibbley AND wobbley, big happy bursts of Prime were glowing all over the height of the New Year’s festivities, and it was likely to be a hot time in the old town tonight! To Be Continued…
…but wait… there’s more!
Before leaving the Werewolf Alpha, Aldous, wanted to monologue. I have to give credit where it is due and say that he was F&@# Brilliant! He could easily have waited to open the next session with a rousing speech to give himself some time to prepare, but he shot from the hip and even I was inspired to stop the evil from happening!
Don’t worry, I got over it before the next session started.
First things first: The Mages have to get from Liberty Island (where the Statue of Liberty is) to Manhattan Island (where all the evil is going to take place). It’s getting pretty close to midnight, so there are no ferries now. There are a few security guards that they will have to hide from or deal with though. The Thyrsus, Nokoni, yells “CAW!” transforms into a large bird and flies toward Times Square, leaving his friends stranded.
Neils, one of our Obrimos Mages, whips a small raft out of thin air. He doesn’t roll as well as he could have, so he casts again and they lash the two things together with belts that the Moros Mage turns into rope. The Werewolves, being showoffs, act as onboard engines: they swim and push the rafts that carry the Mages.
The Fate Mage casts some hoodoo to keep the security guards from wandering near enough to see all these Paradoxalicious goings-on.
The Guardian of the Veil Facepalms, but makes no effort to stop any of this. Good job!
The paradox dice fail me again. (I know you’re as stunned as I am.)
As the Scooby Gang floats across from Liberty Island to Manhattan Island the Bloody Acanthus starts casting Acceleration on people to get them there faster. They are going to be reaching Manhattan at a point that is not exactly close to Times Square (near the center of Manhattan for those who are unfamiliar) no matter how they cut it, so they are going to need speed on their side.
Everyone is now moving at Ludicrous Speed!
For once the Paradox Dice don’t fail me and Aenaiyah winds up taking a few bashing damage. I believe those dice hate the Acanthus as much as I do, which is why I haven’t smashed them to bits yet. For the record, it is at about this time that I realize that Paradox really needs a stronger bite, and let’s face it a stronger bark wouldn’t hurt either, because with all this crazy vulgar stuff going on I think I managed to stub Aenaiyah’s toe, and maybe break one of her nails.
And so the Supersonic Werewolves run through the streets of Manhattan at about Mach 10 carrying the Mages on their backs. One of those Mages is furiously waving her hands casting fate spells to keep people out of their way. Yes, she took negatives and had to make RESOLVE+COMPOSURE rolls to cast under those circumstances. Of course, this being New Year’s Eve most eyes were in Times Square and so they really didn’t have any problems until they got near that area. This was an easy explanation for her dratted successes.
When they were close enough (and still out of site of people… damned Fate Magic) our Guardian created a Portal to get them to the top of a building. He did this because, you know, he’s a Guardian and that isn’t Vulgar at all. (Note: Space is his third Arcana. There was no Mastigos Mage present at this session.) I believe he took a bashing for that one… so there! Nokoni had already done a fly by (CAW!), and they met to discuss what he had seen.
What he saw on that rooftop was a surprise to all of them. The group of Arch-Mages was to be expected under the circumstances. The ritual circles, arcane chanting, and general feeling of dread were likely accompaniments.
The young child standing in the center of the ritual circle… that they didn’t expect. Sacrifices are not unusual components for these sorts of gatherings, and you pretty much do have to make them younger and younger every year to meet all the purity and innocence requirements.
What was shocking was that they knew this girl.
This girl had been living at their house since the day they rescued her.
This girl was one of theirs.
This girl was the Acanthus Child, Marissa.
Bloody Hell.
Auld Lang Syne:
With poor Cerberus soundly thwacked (honestly, the crumbling masonry did more damage than Cerberus himself managed to!) the mixed group of Mages and Werewolves soon realized that it was time to go. They had upset the delicate balance of this odd little pocket of Space/Time and it was about to wink out of existence taking them with it. Fortunately, despite the fact that they disrupted her research, Mysterium Acanthus Arch-Mage Reenie Beloshe decided to leave them a sign-post anyway to point the way toward the portal home. This is probably a good thing, if only because Aenaiyah had snagged a backpack full of her research* as soon as they arrived at the Dogs of War Compound.
Naturally, because the players wound up in a Space/Time bubble they arrived back at the arm of the Statue of Liberty (just outside the torch) not long after they left. This was shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve. That’s just the kind of generous GM I am to not spoil their holiday celebrations. I even suggested that they turn on their various Mage sights and look out over New York City on New Year’s Eve from the observation deck of the Torch of the Statue of Liberty because I am just that good to them.
It wasn’t until I insisted on talking to each one of them individually in The Room that they began to think that maybe they were in trouble.
It was when I insisted that they NOT discuss what I told them until I had spoken with everyone, was back in the main room, and said “Go!” that they began to get really, really nervous.
I admit it, I love instilling fear!
So as I pulled them aside and asked which versions of Mage Sight they were using to look over the city, I gave them the following information as appropriate:
- Fate: Something is going to happen here… something BIG. You can’t tell what it is. All you can tell is that it is going to HAPPEN! It may be something good… but it may be something bad. Whatever it is, it will be televised live to billions of people!
- Forces: You can see the electrical grid of the city. It’s very pretty, especially with all of the power being drawn into Times Square for the lights and cameras. There is nothing unusual in this sphere.
- Death: There is a heavy weight of death around the city, and it is heaviest around The Ball. You don’t see any ghosts in the area.
- Life: The City is teeming with life tonight! This is to be expected in light of the crowds that have gathered to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Oddly enough, while there is certainly a high concentration of life in the streets below The Ball, there is some kind of odd spike right near The Ball itself.
- Matter: It is no great surprise that there is a great deal of matter around you, after all this is New York City. There does not seem to be anything that is in any way unusual about any of it.
- Mind: There are so many minds in the city tonight, and so many of them are hopped up on a variety of substances, that it is difficult to focus. That said, the prevailing mood is one of joyous anticipation. A New Year is coming! It’s time to celebrate!
- Prime: It’s Manhattan, and it’s New year’s Eve, and yes, there are Mages about in the city. Most of what you see are small magical effects. People have their Mage Armor up, things like that. When you look up toward The Ball however… when you look there you see something more. Someone is casting just under The Ball, and whatever it is that they are casting… it’s powerful.
- Space: You have just stepped through a portal that lead you back from a bubble of Time/Space, so yes… Space is slightly distorted here. Other than that, it’s Space… and it’s filled with bright lights. As you keep looking you start to see what could be something… in the area under The Ball. You aren’t completely sure, but somebody might be casting a Space spell there…
- Spirit: The first thing you notice is that the various Spirits in the area of Manhattan Island tonight seem to be trying to leave the city. Even the normally stationary spirits like trees and skyscrapers seem to be leaning away from something. As you look over the city a pattern emerges and you realize that they are all pulling as far away from Times Square as they possibly can. The Ball is brightly lit, and poised to drop!
- Time: It’s New Year’s Eve. Generally this represents great change, and this night is no exception to that. Usually there is a sense of something ending, and something new beginning… but tonight that feels… not quite right. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but you almost get a sense that Time is undecided at the moment. Something is going to end, most certainly, but will there be something new to replace it… you can’t quite say.
*It would be a while before that backpack was returned to its rightful owner.
Alas, Poor Cerberus…
Scaling battles is one of the most difficult parts of GMing World of Darkness. At least, it is for me. In a “leveled” game system you can gauge the challenge by the level of the characters in the group and the number of characters in the group. In “World of Darkness” I have no such luck. Yes, I can (and do) take into account the number of experience points I have handed out up until the session with the fight, but those XPs don’t always get spent on things that will help the characters in combat. This is only compounded by the way that dice pools work in WoD. I have way too many times seen someone with a 10+ dice pool roll zero successes, or even a botch. Now, technically you can only roll a “botch” (aka: dramatic failure) with a chance die, but I have always felt (and my players tend to agree) that botches are part of the fun as long as the GM doesn’t go overboard with them.
On the other hand, I have seen the exact opposite on at least as many occasions. I can’t count for you the number of times I have seen someone have 2 dice and get three or more successes due to roll-ups. It becomes difficult as a GM to have any feel for how a combat will go. This only becomes more difficult to estimate when you’re dealing with a mixed group of Werewolves, which are built for combat, and Mages, which are built to make me weep. I thought that a Mythical Beast with multiple heads that was so large it caused earthquakes by walking around would be a bit of a challenge. (Note: the Mages had jumped through a portal and were not in Kansas anymore at the time.) Instead I wound up with monstrosities with 16+ Dice Pools, Supernal Luck (8 again), and Force fields protecting them as they ripped poor Cerberus to shreds in the first round of combat.
Lessons Learned:
1) In the World of Darkness it is always, always, always preferable to have your players squaring off against a group of baddies rather than one Big Bad. Yes, Cerberus (if that’s what the creature truly was) made an impressive entrance. The problem is that when you are facing off against multiple attacks per round your defense decreases by one for each attacker. When you have some purple-haired person who shall remain nameless casting Acceleration on her combat-monster buddies so that they can kill things at ludicrous speed your Big Bad will be a Big Bloodsplat before everyone even has a chance to get a shot in. On the other hand… fill a house with acid-vomiting zombies and the players will start hosing each other down with cleansing fire in an attempt to escape the building.
2) Pit the Player Characters against each other. This is a tried and true method for making your life as a GM much more fun and easy! Not only are you dealing with less attackers on each side because you have split the group, if they kill each other’s characters they’ll whine at each other and not you! You just get to sit back, relax, and gloat.
3) When your friends ask you if you’ll run Mage… YOU SAY NO!
Hollow Laughter in Marble Halls
In a long running campaign it’s important to allow the players some time for character development. If you play your cards right they will think you’re being the magnanimous sort of GM who is willing to indulge their frivolous whims. It is important to not let them realize the truth of the matter too quickly. The truth is that you are accomplishing two aims for yourself: not having to come up with plans for the session, and giving the PCs enough rope to hang themselves.
My PCs wanted to play tourist for a session since two of them are newly arrived in America. They wanted to take a group trip to see the Statue of Liberty. I convinced them that they wanted to do this on New Year’s Eve so that they could enjoy the spectacular view from The Torch. Yes, yes, I know that The Torch is closed on New Year’s Eve at midnight, but we’re talking about a group of Mages and Werewolves here so surely they can find a way to make this happen.
The first half of the session was spent causing trouble on Liberty Island. The players made it abundantly clear that they were doing quite a bit of drinking this day. Hello negative dice pool modifier! I’m so pleased you could make it to the party!
This naturally lead to questionable decisions like the desire to scratch the words “Lars Was Here” into the base of The Statue with Steel Rending Claws. Sadly, this effort was ultimately thwarted by the group.
My favorite bad decision of the evening took place inside Liberty’s Arm later that evening however. Tell me, if you’ve broken into someplace that nobody is supposed to be in and you find a magic portal, are you stupid enough to leap through it? If you are I’m pretty sure there is a science lab accepting applications. The retirement benefits suck, but there will be cake!
Also, you might be one of my players.
My players opt to leap through the portal with no concern for where it will spit them out, or how they will make it back. Well played players, well played.
Where they landed wound up being a vast field of happy little warrior corpses. (Where’s Bob Ross when you need him?!) In the distance is a large, formidable keep. As they grow closer they realize that the keep is made of marble, and covered in ancient runes. Much of the weaponry and armor that litters the field is also runed, though the material seems unremarkable. The players have stumbled upon a relic hunt at the site of the final stand of the Dogs of War.
My plan was thus: The Dogs were one of the more extreme factions of the Adamantine Arrow in the days of Atlantis. Of course, in their eyes they were doing what needed to be done to protect Atlantis. In the eyes of the Guardians of the Veil they were reckless war mongering fools who were going to wind up destroying the city if they weren’t stopped. The other Orders were divided on the issue. As such, I had the players roll INTELLIGENCE+COMPOSURE or INTELLIGENCE+OCCULT, which ever they preferred, and if they got at least one success I told them the following:
- If the player is an Adamantine Arrow the Dogs worked tirelessly and without thanks, often giving their lives, in defence of the people of Atlantis.
- If the player is a Guardian of the Veil the Dogs were crazy and reckless and needed to be kept a safe distance from the people they were “trying to protect”
- Anyone else was given both viewpoints.
I then told them that since no one had any way of knowing what the truth was they could make up rumors about the Dogs as they saw fit. After all, they might have heard anything, and any of it might be true. I could then listen to what they came up with and decide whether or not I wanted to work it into the campaign at a later date. (I didn’t tell them this last part.)
Most players offered me nothing to work with. Contrary to what one would normally expect (unless one happens to read this blog regularly of course), the Guardian of the Veil (you know… the keepers of secrets and such) comes up with a wild tale of The Tooth of Fenris.
He, both out of character and in, has no idea that Werewolves have a name for Fenris: Father Wolf.
Always count on stupidity.
*Yes, as a matter of fact I did have Pink Floyd’s “Dogs of War” playing in the background for the occasion.
Operation: Blow-up Doll
Have you ever had one of those sessions where there is something so completely obvious that the players should do and they just completely refuse to do it?
One of the earlier incidents of players behaving oddly (I have many from which to choose) has since come to be known as “Operation: Blow-up Doll”
It was simple. The Mages (Aenaiyah, Argus, Marissa, Molly, Neils, Nokoni, and Rex at that time) had just captured a group of Mages running a dojo who were causing people to be tainted by the Abyss. The thing of it is, they really didn’t intend for that to happen! Had anyone thought to actually talk to these people they might have found out that they really did believe that they were helping people find their paths to a Supernal Watchtower. The problem is that they had been duped by an Abyssal Entity. It was an honest mistake!
I had planned for these characters to be recurring. I had the Mage cabal find various things in the dojo that they took home with them including Busy Bea’s watercolor paintings (she was actually quite talented with solid scores in Crafts and Dexterity!), and Master Wu’s diary. I found some nice watercolor images online that I downloaded as examples of her paintings, and I even wrote out part of the diary! In Japanese! (OK, it was English printed in the Japanese font… but it looked neat dammit.) Hidden in the diary were hints that this man may have information regarding Marissa (the mysterious Acanthus child) and her family. I went so far as to determine levels of success in translating the diary as its writer was a reasonably powerful Mastigos Mage who had protected his diary against Supernal decryption. I wrote the passage in English, converted to the Japanese font, and then printed multiple copies of it with larger sections translated (printed in Calibri instead of Japanese) each time. I ranked each section by how many successes they would need to roll to unlock that stage of the translation. I thought it was cool enough to be worth the work. Hell, I even wrote a Haiku! And I gave the Haiku the same treatment!
I made it clear that this particular Mastigos had performed at least one (and quite possibly more…) Goetic Summoning. He had pulled a Vice out of his head, and then found himself unable to bring himself to destroy the demon. As a result he found it a home instead. That home was a lovely Japanese Stroll Garden in upstate New York, based on the very real Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden.
So the Mages knew that there was a Goetic Demon living in a garden, they knew that it was based upon Master Wu’s jealous rage, and they didn’t know which garden. I figured they would ask him. After all, they do have him conveniently locked up in Consilium Prison. If, by some chance, they figured out which garden on their own (as it happened they guessed correctly), I was smart enough to choose a large garden in the hopes that they might think it a good idea to ask whereabouts in this garden the Goetic Demon might be. (Note: when I ran this scenario there was a map of the garden at the website that does not appear to be there now. I used the actual garden map for the scenario.)
Clearly good ideas and my Mage troop have never been formally introduced.
The problem with this is that I had figured an interrogation would take some time during the session. I was hoping for a little Mastigos-a-Mastigos action! A battle of Wits in the truest sense!
Instead they said “it’s a Goetic Demon. How hard could it be to track it down?” and tried to scrounge up enough money for bus fair. (Except for the Thyrsus, Nokoni, who opted instead to turn into an eagle and fly there.) As it happened I did pick a precise location for the demon, and as they wandered to every area on the map EXCEPT THAT ONE… well nothing happened. They wandered, and wandered, and eventually they stumbled across the demon. Mind you, it took some doing before they figured out she was there, and she got several great mind attacks off on them before they did. Suddenly Neils was jealous about Argus being the de facto group leader, Rex was jealous about the other folks being so much younger than him, Argus was jealous of everyone else’s freedom from responsibility on account of they let him make all the decisions, Molly was jealous of Aenaiyah’s slut-tastic wardrobe (Molly was a 16 year old Mage) and they went at each other’s throats like they were actually related!
Ultimately however the characters did realize that this was the doing of a certain Goetic Demon. The players figured it out but their characters apparently aren’t all that bright. (I imagine you’re as shocked about this as I am.) One player eventually did something I expected and walked up to the demon (it had manifested by this point) and asked “Are you my Mother?” What she didn’t realize was that this time (this had been her running gag of the campaign) it was! This particular demon was a manifestation of Master Wu’s desire for the woman he loved, and that woman went on to become Marissa’s mother! Marissa’s player had let me make up the character’s backstory any way I wanted on the grounds that the character had been trapped in a chronic hysteresis for a couple of decades and had no idea why or how. This should have been a revelation of some kind. This was a clue to the mysterious character’s past. This man might know who she is… and why she had been trapped… and…
THE PLAYERS NEVER BOTHERED TO QUESTION HIM ABOUT THIS!
EVER!!
My other Acanthus, despite the fact that she couldn’t actually see the demon herself at the time, decided to go off an a rant (shocking!) and inform the demon that when it really came down to it she was really nothing more than a fancy blow-up doll for Master Wu to get his kicks with when he felt like it. I will admit that I had never figured on that particular phrasing, but I did make the demon’s bans include:
- The fact that Marissa was the daughter of the human she was based on
- The fact that she wasn’t actually the woman Master Wu loved, but was merely a copy
These things played upon the demon’s own jealousy and drained it of essence. Aenaiyah, noticing the demon’s reaction to her insult, ranted through the whole fight! Even after the demon manifested in her face! It was in the middle of this ranting about sex toys that the child Acanthus Marissa asked the thing if it was her mother! And when it raged and started shrieking in pain Aenaiyah realized that she had been calling Marissa’s mother a blow-up doll for the past half hour! PRICELESS!
Eventually, using Spirit Magic and the Demon’s bans they did manage to defeat it. Then they had to find a way home after the buses stopped running for the evening. With only one dot of Resources between them at the time Nokoni once again turned into an eagle and flew away. (Clearly he was the wisest among them, not that he had much competition.) The others rented a moving van because the dice were on my side for once so I deemed it all they could afford that would fit all of them.
Let’s just say that for those in the back of the van it was a long… dark… long… way home….with an excitable purple haired Acanthus…good times.
Mage Mistress 