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With the help of two of my potential players, I have finally achieved my
holy grail of Mage gaming.
A paradox/consensus penalization scheme I am actually completely
satisfied with. And it's not even terribly complicated, though I'm
surprised how long the explanations are once I put them in writing.
The firm divisions of coincidental and vulgar, witnessed and unwitnessed
have been abolished. Instead, all acts will be rated on three
considerations:
Ends
Means
Witnesses
There are four ratings in each category, which correspond to difficulty
modifiers ranging from -1 to +2. The paradox accrued by an effect is
equal to the total of these difficulty modifiers (doubled or +sphere
level for a botch, whichever is higher).
_Ends_
Ends represents Consensual belief in the possibility of your effect,
considered seperate from the means used to achieve it. How common or
likely is the effect of the magic considering the circumstances?
The four ratings for Ends are Expected, Surprising, Incredible,
Unbelievable.
I'll use healing as an example throughout the explanation. Situation: a
man just took a hit from a drive-by shooting. Stoping the bleeding from
an arm wound would be an Expected effect, getting that same man
stabilized and coherant after a gut wound would be Surprising, getting
the man up and walking would be Incredible, and making the man as good
as new would be Unbelievable.
Note that for the ends it doesn't matter how the healing was
accomplished. That is covered in the next two categories.
Two things often act to modify the Ends rating. Time is the most common
and obvious one. It is Unbelievable to heal a man of a bullet wound in
minutes. It is Expected to heal a man of a bullet wound over months. The
other common modifier is circumstances. A man being hit by lightning in
a thunderstorm is at worst Surprising. A man hit by lightning out of a
clear sky is Unbelievable.
_Means_
This is where your foci, and the local beliefs in their powers, are
considered. Means rates how closely tied your methods and tools are the
effect you are casting in the cultural beliefs of the area you are
working in.
The four ratings for Means are Synonymous, Related, Tenous, Unknown. A
focus is synonymous for effects in which the a common man of the culture
would immediately and automatically connect the two. Guns are Synonymous
for deadly ranged attacks.
A hospital or first aid kit is Synonymous for certain types of healing.
A Cadeceus would be Related even in today's technocratic world, for its
symbolism is still widely recognized even if its efficacy is not. Much
eastern medicine and folk remedies would also be Related in modern
western cities, but might be Synonymous in rural areas or China. The
ancient egyptian glyph for Thoth has only a Tenous hold in the modern
culture - only a small percentage of the people would recognize its
meaning. For some things there is simply no conception of a connection
with healing at all - using chocolate to attempt to stop bleeding would
be Unknown.
For situations where a Mage uses more than one focus, first consider all
of the foci for a single sphere and choose the best. Then, choose the
worst modifier among all the spheres being used.
_Witnesses_
This deals with the belief of actual witnesses in the powers of the
Mage. Personal and institutional reputation are immensely important
here, especially when dealing with crowds of people. It is possible to
falsely claim a reputation so long as your visible foci are close enough
to those of the group or individual you are impersinating to fool the
witnesses.
The four ratings for Witnesses are Believers, Undecideds, Cynics, and
Fanatics. The worst rating from all the witnesses always applies, so one
Fanatic in your crowd of Believers can ruin everything.
A Believer is a person who believes unreservedly in your ability to
achieve the effect you are attempting with the foci you are using. An
Undecided is willing the consider the possibility you could do it, but
has doubts. A Cynic is convinced you can not accomplish what you are
trying to do. A Fanatic is another Mages' true believer - they know how
the world works, and it does not include your kind.
Witnesses is concerned only with what the person believes, knows, and
observes as of the casting. Obscuration and fake observences of other
paradigms tends to work in the favor of the Mage. CPR and EMT uniform,
even if it isn't your focus, can help a lot in getting the people to
accept your ability to restart your friends heart while chanting
Enochian (the Enochian, however, still is a Tenous Means).
To summarize:
Ends (effect): Expected (-1), Surprising (+0), Incredible (+1),
Unbelievable (+2)
Means(foci): Synonymous (-1), Related (+0), Tenous (+1),
Unknown/Unconnected (+2)
Witnesses(reputation): Believer (-1), Uncertain (+0), Cynic (+1),
Fanatic(+2)
Paradox on a successful casting = sum of all modifiers
Paradox on a botch: larger of sum of the modifiers + sphere level OR 2*
sum of the modifiers.
William
With the help of two of my potential players, I have finally achieved my
holy grail of Mage gaming.
A paradox/consensus penalization scheme I am actually completely
satisfied with. And it's not even terribly complicated, though I'm
surprised how long the explanations are once I put them in writing.
The firm divisions of coincidental and vulgar, witnessed and unwitnessed
have been abolished. Instead, all acts will be rated on three
considerations:
Ends
Means
Witnesses
There are four ratings in each category, which correspond to difficulty
modifiers ranging from -1 to +2. The paradox accrued by an effect is
equal to the total of these difficulty modifiers (doubled or +sphere
level for a botch, whichever is higher).
_Ends_
Ends represents Consensual belief in the possibility of your effect,
considered seperate from the means used to achieve it. How common or
likely is the effect of the magic considering the circumstances?
The four ratings for Ends are Expected, Surprising, Incredible,
Unbelievable.
I'll use healing as an example throughout the explanation. Situation: a
man just took a hit from a drive-by shooting. Stoping the bleeding from
an arm wound would be an Expected effect, getting that same man
stabilized and coherant after a gut wound would be Surprising, getting
the man up and walking would be Incredible, and making the man as good
as new would be Unbelievable.
Note that for the ends it doesn't matter how the healing was
accomplished. That is covered in the next two categories.
Two things often act to modify the Ends rating. Time is the most common
and obvious one. It is Unbelievable to heal a man of a bullet wound in
minutes. It is Expected to heal a man of a bullet wound over months. The
other common modifier is circumstances. A man being hit by lightning in
a thunderstorm is at worst Surprising. A man hit by lightning out of a
clear sky is Unbelievable.
_Means_
This is where your foci, and the local beliefs in their powers, are
considered. Means rates how closely tied your methods and tools are the
effect you are casting in the cultural beliefs of the area you are
working in.
The four ratings for Means are Synonymous, Related, Tenous, Unknown. A
focus is synonymous for effects in which the a common man of the culture
would immediately and automatically connect the two. Guns are Synonymous
for deadly ranged attacks.
A hospital or first aid kit is Synonymous for certain types of healing.
A Cadeceus would be Related even in today's technocratic world, for its
symbolism is still widely recognized even if its efficacy is not. Much
eastern medicine and folk remedies would also be Related in modern
western cities, but might be Synonymous in rural areas or China. The
ancient egyptian glyph for Thoth has only a Tenous hold in the modern
culture - only a small percentage of the people would recognize its
meaning. For some things there is simply no conception of a connection
with healing at all - using chocolate to attempt to stop bleeding would
be Unknown.
For situations where a Mage uses more than one focus, first consider all
of the foci for a single sphere and choose the best. Then, choose the
worst modifier among all the spheres being used.
_Witnesses_
This deals with the belief of actual witnesses in the powers of the
Mage. Personal and institutional reputation are immensely important
here, especially when dealing with crowds of people. It is possible to
falsely claim a reputation so long as your visible foci are close enough
to those of the group or individual you are impersinating to fool the
witnesses.
The four ratings for Witnesses are Believers, Undecideds, Cynics, and
Fanatics. The worst rating from all the witnesses always applies, so one
Fanatic in your crowd of Believers can ruin everything.
A Believer is a person who believes unreservedly in your ability to
achieve the effect you are attempting with the foci you are using. An
Undecided is willing the consider the possibility you could do it, but
has doubts. A Cynic is convinced you can not accomplish what you are
trying to do. A Fanatic is another Mages' true believer - they know how
the world works, and it does not include your kind.
Witnesses is concerned only with what the person believes, knows, and
observes as of the casting. Obscuration and fake observences of other
paradigms tends to work in the favor of the Mage. CPR and EMT uniform,
even if it isn't your focus, can help a lot in getting the people to
accept your ability to restart your friends heart while chanting
Enochian (the Enochian, however, still is a Tenous Means).
To summarize:
Ends (effect): Expected (-1), Surprising (+0), Incredible (+1),
Unbelievable (+2)
Means(foci): Synonymous (-1), Related (+0), Tenous (+1),
Unknown/Unconnected (+2)
Witnesses(reputation): Believer (-1), Uncertain (+0), Cynic (+1),
Fanatic(+2)
Paradox on a successful casting = sum of all modifiers
Paradox on a botch: larger of sum of the modifiers + sphere level OR 2*
sum of the modifiers.
William
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