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Project Lullaby
Project Lullaby
Seer Brahms
Proposal: Project Lullaby
Pentacle Orders have been obtaining funding under the auspices of CIA project MK Ultra to test the potential of lysergic acid diethylamide since roughly 1950. While their experiments have not held promise toward their aims of controlled Awakening, I believe that the true promise of lysergic acid diethylamide (hereafter LSD) is to prevent, and possibly even reverse, the Awakening process.
The following has been excerpted from Pentacle records with regard to CIA project MK Ultra.
Point: There exists anecdotal evidence that links LSD with visions of the supernal.
There are copious references in drug culture to experiences that “transcend” the normal world. For example, LSD users have been cited as being able to “see” sounds and “feel” colors. Their descriptions often bare similarities to that which we know as uses of “Mage Sight”.
Question: Is it possible to use LSD to bring about Awakening in a controlled environment.
Experiment: Expose Sleepers/Sleepwalkers to the drug LSD to determine suitability for use in controlled Awakening.
::: End Excerpt:::
According to information obtained by Seer operatives present during testing there was no conclusive evidence linking LSD to Awakening. At best LSD temporarily, though unreliably, induced a Sleepwalking state in users.
Point: Exposure to LSD induces a Sleepwalking state in some individuals
Though experimental results were unreliable, LSD does show promise in bringing about a Sleepwalking state in some individuals.
Point: There is no known evidence of a Sleepwalker having experienced a full Awakening.
Sleepwalkers are those Sleepers who have had memorable experiences of the Supernal, yet have not fully Awakened. Despite many years of working with these Sleepwalkers, there is not even one recorded incident in which a Sleepwalker has attained full Awakened capabilities.
Question: Is it possible to use LSD to induce a temporary “Sleepwalking” state that will prevent individuals from Awakening in the future?
Question: Is it possible to use LSD to sever the connection between a Mage and his/her Watchtower, reducing the Mage to a Sleepwalking state?
Experiment: Captured Pentacle Mages will be exposed to the drug LSD for varying periods of time. These individuals will be watched by Seers to determine the following:
- Is the Mage able to cast spells while under the effects of LSD?
- Is the Mage able to cast spells after the effects of LSD have worn off?
- Is the Mage able to remember past Supernal experiences after exposure to LSD?
- Does exposure to LSD alter a Mage’s aura?
- If there is a change, what is the nature of the change?
- If there is a change, does the change last after the drug has cleared the body?
Additionally, Sleeper scientists within the CIA have conducted other experiments using combinations of LSD and other mind altering agents (as well as electroshock). While most of these are irrelevant to us, there is one avenue that is of interest. Can LSD be used to implant alternate personalities in patients?
While it is possible for any Mastigos to control the mind of another being for limited durations, and even to permanently erase memories from a target, this magical tampering can be picked up and countered by others with talent in the Mind Arcanum. If LSD can in fact be used to deeply implant agendas in the mind of a Mage or Sleepwalker these commands, since non-magical in nature, would not be able to be countered. Further, would it possible to hide this tampering from scanning altogether? Since LSD breaks down in the body relatively quickly, it is possible that these alternate personalities might not be detectable as ‘foreign thoughts’ using Awakened magic. If so, the potential to place unknowing Seer agents among the Pentacle Orders would be greatly enhanced.
Question: Can LSD, in combination with other mind altering techniques not involving magic, be used to create hidden personalities in Awakened?
Question: Can these ‘hidden personalities’ be ferreted out as foreign tampering by those skilled in the Mind Arcanum?
Experiments:
Experimentation will involve long-term exposure of captured Pentacle Mages to LSD, combined with electroshock techniques and other drugs. The trials will run along lines similar to those of CIA project MK Ultra (packet included) geared toward the creation of new, hidden personalities in individuals. If new personalities are successfully implanted, skilled Mastigos Seers will probe the subjects to determine if the new program is distinguishable in magic scans.
If successful, these experiments have the potential to greatly increase the vision of our Ministry.
Vision is power.
Innocents Musings
I’ve written my first module for World of Darkness: Innocents! I haven’t run it just yet, I’ll be doing that at RetCon on Saturday night, but if how much I’ve enjoyed writing it is any indication everyone will be pleased.
One of the things that struck me as slightly odd about Innocents is that it doesn’t use the Virtue/Vice system. Honestly, I can’t imagine why since the entire rest of the World of Darkness line does. The idea of Innocents is that the main protagonists are children (boogie man in the closet kind of stories) but it’s hardly as though children don’t have Virtues and Vices. Children can be every bit as Wrathful, Envious, Proud, Hopeful, Prudent, and Charitable as adults can. So why not Virtues and Vices? Why does Innocents switch to “Assets and Faults”?
I have no answer for that question, and here is another question I have no answer for: why wasn’t “Assets and Faults” made the universal personality trait for all of the World of Darkness instead? Now that I’ve seen the system in Innocents I can’t understand why it wasn’t used across the gamut.
I’d guess that most people are familiar with the seven deadly sins that Vices are based on, and of course the Virtues are all familiar enough as well. The thing is, while Envy is simple enough as a concept, to covet that which someone else has, it’s a little less easy to role play effectively. Envy is a subtle inner conflict that doesn’t always play well at the game table.
In contrast, the Assets and Faults of the Innocents system are all concrete and easy to communicate at the table. They are also well balanced, so that for the various positive qualities a character might have, there are opposing negative qualities: Bravery and Cowardice, Kindness and Cruelty, Generosity and Greed. As for the replenishment of Willpower Points, they work exactly the same way as their counterparts in the other systems: the indulgence of a Fault replenishes one point of Willpower, and the portrayal of an Asset replenishes Willpower to the character’s maximum.
In the Virtues and Vices system I tend to stick to a core few that I use to make pre-generated characters for convention modules because I want to be sure that players with no experience won’t have a hard time portraying the various characters as written on the sheets. I didn’t have that problem at all writing characters in Innocents. I didn’t see any particular quality that wouldn’t be fun to portray at the table. They all feel like they will work well in a group dynamic.
Of course, I’ll know more after Saturday night’s session!
I Peed My Pants!
Previously on Mage the Awakening…
The Mages tracked a Banisher to an abandoned monastery on Staten Island. How, you ask? Rex’s skill with the Matter Arcana allowed him to isolate a sliver of metal from the iron murder shovel embedded in the flesh of one of the victims. At that point Damien cast a Space spell to discover the location of the rest of the shovel, using the sliver as a focus. This particular shovel dated back to a time when the monks at the site forged their own tools, which made it different than your typical modern shovel, though they did turn up two sizable sources of the same iron at the site. One source was about 2 stories above ground, the other roughly as far below ground, and smaller than the first.
Upon arrival the Mages find all of the things you would expect to find at a long abandoned monastery. They wander through a small religious shop where they get their grubby paws on some blessed items (useful in case there might happen to be some ghosts nearby), a chapel with some blessed Bibles, and a ladder leading up to the bell tower. The bell is the first and larger source of iron at the site.
Now, being a GM I know that if I put a rope next to a bell and there are seven players at my table SOMEBODY is going to pull that rope. Who could resist? When I’m a player character, I can’t. To sweeten the temptation I made sure to point out the location of a small plaque next to the ladder that leads up to the tower which reads: “Faustus Upstairs Up Ladder In Tower.” I promise you I did not make that up. I actually found that on not one but two of the websites I visited while researching the very real abandoned monastery St Augustine’s! How could I not include it? I was obligated. It was a sacred duty. Who am I to drop the ball on the performance of sacred duty?
And so, of course, Riff-Raff pulls the rope. Good old Riff-Raff. I knew I could count on you.
Then the demon attacks. Now Nokoni had been using his Spirit sight to scrutinize the area, but Faustus (I had to name him Faustus under the circumstances) was discorporated until someone rang the bell because that is one of his abilities. So as soon as Riff-Raff pulled that rope several things happened:
- The peal of the bell nearly deafened several characters
- Faustus materialized
- Nokoni’s Spirit senses started tingling
- The party was attacked by a swarm of bats
Put another way: shit got real.
It was an epic battle. Aren’t they all? Faustus has the ability to instill fear in people, causing Damien to flee the area for multiple rounds almost immediately. He can not create fear in anyone who rings the bell, so Riff-Raff was off the hook on that one. Faustus can create more bats. Faustus can freeze someone in place – paralyzed with fear. All of this is pretty fun for me, but my personal favorite of Fausty-baby’s abilities is the Desiccation Numina. This particular Numina drains the fluid from its victim. Due to the nature of my dear little demon’s abilities I decided that this took on the very particular form of the character losing bladder control, and taking bashing damage in the process. And who do we think I targeted with this ability?
Some days I love this job.
Next Week on “Mage: the Awakening”:
Aenaiyah calls Damien back to the monastery with a desperate request. Damien is almost murdered by a cabal-mate when he arrives on the scene with ass-less chaps.
Session Scheming
Tonight on #RPGChat* we were discussing the virtues of session planning, and how some of us like to go about it. This feels appropriate to me for two main reasons, this first of which is that I have a new chapter starting up soon for the Mages (the blog is behind the campaign’s timeline but we’ll catch up to them eventually!), and the second being that RetCon is rapidly approaching and I’m in convention game planning hell.
For reasons too asinine to go into here I committed to running three brand new adventures this year: Innocents, Hunter, and Mage. I have a vague idea of what these sessions will be, which you can check out for yourself if you click through the links. RetCon is in two weeks.
No good can come of this.
There is a lot of flying by the seat of my pants that I do with the Mage campaign. With seven players tossing around god-like powers I’m pretty much forced to. My convention games however are much more solidly put together. There are packets with background info on the characters and their basic attitudes toward life and the current situation to be put together. Naturally the characters all need to be fully statted. The packets also include a brief explanation of certain concepts so that if I have people who are new to the system they will know how things work, for example how the Virtue/Vice selections come into play. I am absolutely a fan of having things to hand out during game sessions and that all has to be put together too.
I like to give my convention players as much of a sandbox environment as I can, but the fact is that I’m running for people I don’t know and may or may not see again. This means coming up with specific goals for them that will keep them in a reasonably predictable area, and then giving them free reign to interact with that environment. I also love to give them free reign to interact with each other. This is where those character “attitudes” come into play. I make every effort to give the PCs things to argue about. Some will totally believe in the presence of the supernatural all around them, while others are skeptics. Some will be bright eyed, bushy tailed, and enthusiastic to learn something new from their team mates; while some of those team mates are just hoping they haven’t been saddled with some brown-nosing, over achieving, suck up. of course having a “Brainey Smurf” around is always good for inter-group tensions. When folks play up those personality types hilarity is sure to ensue.
The story has to be short enough to run in the time allowed, but it can’t run too short either. To that end, I try to plan out things that will be fun for the players to do yet aren’t necessary for the storyline to make sense. I plot out filler scenes. The trick is to make sure they don’t feel like filler scenes. I always give myself a way to trigger the finale in case they don’t get through all of the ‘necessary events’ with at least 30 minutes left in the session. I don’t want things to feel forced, but more importantly I don’t want the players to leave the table feeling incomplete. That isn’t good for anybody.
So, basically, I still have a lot of writing to do, and I have a rapidly diminishing amount of time left in which to do it. It’s all good though. I have my trusty coffee and the day off. I can do this! So, if you’re in the New York area I urge you to check out RetCon this year. There will be chances for me to kill your character! There will be prizes! There will be cake!!**
*It’s a Twitter thing, and if you aren’t there at 9pm on Thursday nights then… well… you should be there is all I’m tryin’ to say!
**The cake is a lie.
The GM Knows…
One of my favorite Mage set pieces has to be an abandoned monastery in Staten Island called St Augustine’s.
In the real world St Augustine’s was abandoned some time in the mid-to-late 60’s and left to ruin. Some of the original grounds have become Wagner College, but some remained as they were. Rumors abound as to what can be found there. Some say that an insane monk set a fire that killed a number of people ranging from none to hundreds. Some say that there are at least a dozen sub-basements, but since the lower floors are flooded below the third no one can say for sure.
Many rumors warn of the cells in the lowest of levels, however deep they may actually be. Those stories say that if one were to be able to swim deep enough, or if the water were to be removed, there is a cell in the lowest level that housed the monk that went insane and set the fire. They claim that his body was never retrieved from his sleeping cell, and that his ghost lingers with it.
When the real life history of a location is this rich it’s impossible to not want to bring it into the World of Darkness. I turned up a wide variety of websites about the place during my campaign research, which means that the players can totally psych themselves out before things really get rolling! These online rumors also persist in my campaign world, and this being the World of Darkness they are not easily dismissed. There was indeed a mad monk in the basement in my world, and he may be there still. He may not be alone. Of course strong emotions attract the notice of the spirit realm, and burning alive does tend to bring on extreme fear… and pain.
I do make an effort to provide some good to go with the bad. This having been a holy place there are sanctified items to be found. The brothers earned the money necessary to sustain themselves by crafting crosses and rosary beads. They also printed bibles at a small hand-press on site, and transcribed verses onto cards and plaques. All of these items give advantage should one need to perform an exorcism, but why on earth would anyone ever feel the need to do that?
There is so much for the Mages to uncover here that I would have been remiss if I hadn’t let my Multiple Mage Murderer have found it to be a marvelous place to hide. Naturally I felt compelled to give him a good reason to feel safe here. You can file that under “The Bad”.
Who knows what the Mages might find hidden in this long forgotten place?
Mage Mistress 