Wait, so who's spreading what in this case? Are the crats hiding the Conquistadorotron 1500s or are the Verbenae revealing that the true strength lay in the natural world or what?
Man, I love this too. It's pretty great. It's also fitting with the Technocrats as insane totalitarians, and in a world where everything is belief, they are literally destroying history to remake it in their own image. This can also be used for making some pretty cutting commentary on Western colonial history that I think is extremely relevant, especially in this time, so I'm all for it.
I would say that this applies to everyone actually. The Ascension war is all about changing reality to how one wants it to be, to be allowed to to do what one wants. So history being a thing that gets changed is par of the course. Again, we had that guy that tried to take over the world before getting obliterated to a trad mage who tried to rewrite the universe so no more death.
The lore about the solar system being changed shows this too. So yeah, I wouldn't call this insane. Its a tactic/strategy.
Hope this question doesn't cause a problem. Just want you guys opinion.
Do you guys think an actual global mass ascension is possible? like everyone actually ascends to beyond level 10 thing and all.
No, this is not a question of whether Trad or Crat are in the right. Please, lets not do that. Its about whether mass ascension of everyone now has all spheres and everything at 10 is even possible?
It does make a lot of sense after all they all see themselves as being the correct ones and would interpret things through their own viewpoint.
I would say that this applies to everyone actually. The Ascension war is all about changing reality to how one wants it to be, to be allowed to to do what one wants. So history being a thing that gets changed is par of the course. Again, we had that guy that tried to take over the world before getting obliterated to a trad mage who tried to rewrite the universe so no more death.
The lore about the solar system being changed shows this too. So yeah, I wouldn't call this insane. Its a tactic/strategy.
Hope this question doesn't cause a problem. Just want you guys opinion.
Do you guys think an actual global mass ascension is possible? like everyone actually ascends to beyond level 10 thing and all.
No, this is not a question of whether Trad or Crat are in the right. Please, lets not do that. Its about whether mass ascension of everyone now has all spheres and everything at 10 is even possible?
This may be a bit contentious, but which edition/version/whatever of the M:tA corebook is generally seen as the best (for someone who isn't already familiar with it)?
This may be a bit contentious, but which edition/version/whatever of the M:tA corebook is generally seen as the best (for someone who isn't already familiar with it)?
This may be a bit contentious, but which edition/version/whatever of the M:tA corebook is generally seen as the best (for someone who isn't already familiar with it)?
2e and Revised are your best bets. 1e has a lot of early instalment weirdness, and M20 is horrible in almost every way, but especially as an introduction to the game.
2e and Revised are your best bets. 1e has a lot of early instalment weirdness, and M20 is horrible in almost every way, but especially as an introduction to the game.
"Raphael looked first one way and then the other in the city's dying light. The heat of August had only just begun to abate, but an icy chill ran up and down his spine, making him shiver. Reaching under his trenchcoat, Raphael fingered his hidden katana hilt. Its strength, its need to cut, reassured him."
For 1e: over time, White Wolf realized that having entire groups be rascist stereotypes was bad. Mage 1e was put out before they realized that. The Technocracy is also entirely evil, and various groups don't have the characterizations they'll get later on.
M20's author reached the point where he can ignore editors, and like JK Rowling and George Lucas, the results aren't pretty. He has a tendency to say in 20 words what could be said in 10, and he goes on rants against eating pizza while gaming, 20 year old internet memes, and so on. It also manages to fail to include a lot of information on how to actually play, despite being big enough to kill someone if you hit them with it.
For 1e: over time, White Wolf realized that having entire groups be rascist stereotypes was bad. Mage 1e was put out before they realized that. The Technocracy is also entirely evil, and various groups don't have the characterizations they'll get later on.
M20's author reached the point where he can ignore editors, and like JK Rowling and George Lucas, the results aren't pretty. He has a tendency to say in 20 words what could be said in 10, and he goes on rants against eating pizza while gaming, 20 year old internet memes, and so on. It also manages to fail to include a lot of information on how to actually play, despite being big enough to kill someone if you hit them with it.
M20's author reached the point where he can ignore editors, and like JK Rowling and George Lucas, the results aren't pretty. He has a tendency to say in 20 words what could be said in 10, and he goes on rants against eating pizza while gaming, 20 year old internet memes, and so on. It also manages to fail to include a lot of information on how to actually play, despite being big enough to kill someone if you hit them with it.
It's not that he's against pizza, necessarily. It's just that in the three paragraphs on eating he felt necessary to include in the "running the game" section, he's very firm that you should finish the pizza before you start gaming. So it's not quite as silly as it sounds, but it's still "a quarter of a page worth of wordcount spent on food" silly.
It's not that he's against pizza, necessarily. It's just that in the three paragraphs on eating he felt necessary to include in the "running the game" section, he's very firm that you should finish the pizza before you start gaming. So it's not quite as silly as it sounds, but it's still "a quarter of a page worth of wordcount spent on food" silly.
Like notanautomaton said, it's immersion and shit. Here, let me quote the lines for you so you can really appreciate them.
Even so, it's a good idea to get the feast out of the way before your game begins. The rarified reaches of the Astral Realms may be hard to evoke when the scent of pizza's in the air.
However appropriate the meal, though, it's best to get the eating out of the way before the game beings. That way, the attention's on you, not on the last piece of pizza congealing in its own grease.
Yes, he makes the same point twice in the span of three paragraphs, using the same food as an example. Because that's a great use of wordcount.
I don't honestly care that much about the pizza thing, because I have the pdf and don't have to worry about hefting the bloated thing, but there's plenty of other stuff that annoys me. Like the rule that mystics start transcending their focuses at arete 3, while technomancers have to hold off until arete 6. So the Hermetic whose paradigm is built around memorizing centuries-old rituals can start casting off that shit as crutches that can be substituted for with pure will while the Virtual Adept whose paradigm is built around being Neo and the Etherite whose paradigm is built around psychic powers are still clinging to their tools through a couple Seekings. And arete 3 is reachable by chargen. You can have a character right out of the box who's started to realize that their practices are unneeded mummery. Just, you know, as long as long as it doesn't involve science and/or technology.
And the list of instruments (the tools of your paradigm that you're transcending through enlightenment) is pretty weird on its own. "Gadgets and inventions" is separate from "devices and machines" is separate from "computer gear" is separate from "brain/computer interface" is separate from "nanotech." Thanks guys, you're making it real fucking clear to me where to draw the line between them.
I think my favorite part's the Disparate Alliance, though. The Disparates, the groups defined by being the people who wanted no part of joining together with a bunch of people who don't share their beliefs, have joined together with each other despite not sharing their beliefs. And that's a cool idea, that union drawn between factions that disagree in the face of a greater threat. It's just that I liked it better when it was called the Nine Traditions.
Paradigm and You: Order of Hermes (I'm going to be replacing the old threadmark with this).
The Paradigm of the Order of Hermes is rather difficult to get right, as it is both rather weak in canon and lacks strong fictional support. Everyone understands how kung fu monks work, and canon gives them enough detail for people to expand on them, but 'wizards' have a massive number of permutations, from Gandalf to Raitstlin to Harry Dresden. This is an attempt to create a stronger, more unified view of the Hermetic Paradigm.
Hermetic magic is broadly based in the idea that things have a metaphysical nature in addition to their physical one; a fire does not just burn, but purifies, destroys, consumes. The Hermetics call this the first law of magic, Principia Metaphysicum. There are further laws, concerning the properties of numbers and words and names, and various ways to invoke objects without their presence. But Principia Metaphysicum is the core of Hermetic magic.
Hermetic magic is based on magical thinking. Things that look like a thing share the nature of a thing; a potato that looks like an ear has metaphysical properties like an ear. Similarly, a piece of something is connected to the whole thing, (your finger is still metaphysically a part of you after it's cut off), and an image of a thing has power over the thing (you can use a picture of a fire like a fire, or to control fire).
Additionally, words, symbols, and numbers have power. Telling a fire to do things in the right way can control the fire (Latin, Greek, and Enochian are good languages for this), and writing down what you want it to do can make it do it. Numbers have magical properties, for instance, three can be used to invoke stability, the Binah Sefirah, and so on. A circle can be used to protect or contain. And names have power, having someone's true name gives you power over them.
All of this is still extremely basic, and a trained hermetic should use these as pieces in their magibabble, rather than directly invoking them. This is a guideline rather than a rule, however.
In practice, this means that a fire is not just a fire, but also has properties of purification, destruction, consuming, anger, love, hate, intellectual brilliance, civilization, and more. At its most basic level, a dead body can be burned or raw meat cooked to prevent disease, which is on a similar level of sophistication to tying a pointy rock on the end of a stick for a technological paradigm. Millennia of development has resulted in far more advanced magics, but developing further applications requires the mindset of an artist rather than a mathematician.
While this is the basis for the Hermetic Paradigm, there are different explanations as to why this is the case.
The Classical Explanation as to why objects have metaphysical qualities is 'because.' Nobody needs to explain why a rock has atoms (at least, not as a central part of a scientific worldview), so there's no reason to need why the Hermetics need to explain exactly why a rock has metaphysical properties. This explanation has somewhat fallen out of favor as the Hermetic viewpoint has become marginalized, as someone raised in a scientific society finds it difficult to believe in the supernatural 'just because.'
The Platonic Theory instead states that there is a 'true reality,' a realm of pure Platonic Forms, and that the reality we see is a mere reflection, a series of shadow on a wall. Unlike the similar Ecstatic and Akashic paradigms, power and enlightenment are found by understanding the false reality rather than rejecting it. There are both theistic and atheistic variants of this paradigm, with the theistic variation being very gnostic. It has come to be the most popular Paradigm, having a plurality of the Order subscribing to it.
Finally, the Solomonic Theory takes the Platonic Theory a step further, and posits the existence of intelligence within the realm of Platonic Forms. These intelligences can be both invoked and dealt with, making Hermetics that follow this viewpoint seem distressingly similar to pagan priests to their colleagues. For this reason, it is officially out of favor within the Order, and is the least popular variation.
If the Order is hundreds/thousands of years old and has strong ideological continuity, then Crowley's lot are going to be fringe unless you make some big changes from RL historical Hermeticism.
Mage has a long tradition of having real belief systems be fringe within their Traditions, so that players don't accidentally cast real magick while playing.
2e and Revised are your best bets. 1e has a lot of early instalment weirdness, and M20 is horrible in almost every way, but especially as an introduction to the game.
M20 verges into the incoherence. Tsere's probably ideas or mechanics you could steal from it, but it literally disagrees with itself at various points, is a bad introduction to all of the different factions, and is a massive waste of space.
I would as always suggested 2nd. There are mechanical touch-ups in revised, but it's just not as interesting a setting.
