open dev

My Body Is A Cage (Silver Ladder) [Mage: The Awakening]

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First, some Peter Gabriel. The end is approaching. Not global Ascension, but of these Open Development posts – we have only two more of these posts to go. Game’s nearly out of Development and into Editing, the playtest groups are beavering away, and my Development “to-do” list now fits on one page. What to say … Read more

Endless Wonder (Mysterium) [Mage: The Awakening]

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(Warehouse 13, property of SyFy) Welcome back, faithful readers, to another in the pre-GenCon Order writeups. This time, we’re looking at the Mysterium. If the Guardians, early in Mage‘s gameline, showed what the Orders could be like when expanded upon, the Mysterium were the first Order I really “got,” as I one of my players had a Mystagogue … Read more

A Beautiful Crime (Guardians of the Veil) [Mage: The Awakening]

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Welcome back, faithful readers! Continuing our pre-GenCon run through of the second edition Orders, it’s time for the Guardians of the Veil. First, some music from Tamer   What to say about the Guardians? More than any other Order (except maybe the Seers) they were most clarified and improved by their Order book, so readers jumping … Read more

We Can Make The World Stop (Adamantine Arrow) [Mage: The Awakening]

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Welcome back, faithful readers! I knew we’d be over-subscribed for the playtest, but not that I’d be disappointing quite so many people. To try to make up for it, spoilers will continue until morale improves. First, some music with a very appropriate video, courtesy of the Glitch Mob. A looooooong time ago on this blog, … Read more

Reaching the Next Level [Mage: The Awakening]

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Attainments! Early in the discussions around a new edition of Awakening‘s ruleset, the team expressed a desire to tidy up some of the exceptions and secondary effects built into the system – things like Sympathetic casting, Aimed Spells, Spell Triggers, Counterspell, Summoning. Anything that was magical, but didn’t strictly speaking follow the magic rules. Some … Read more

Supporting Cast [Mage: The Awakening]

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We all need mirrors. The Awakened are strange, maddening people to be around. Imagine the most insular subculture you’ve ever come across, where the members have their own bizarre rituals, jargon, and shared references, then multiply it by a thousand. Then curse almost everyone else to be driven mad by exposure to that subculture even … Read more

The Creative Arts [Mage: The Awakening]

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Welcome back, faithful readers! Mage: The Awakening Second Edition has spent the last four months being redlined with a fine-toothed comb, and is now back with the authors for a spruce-up before evolving into its final form. As second drafts come back in, I’ll be sharing the topics we didn’t get around to in the … Read more

Redlines and Anthologies [Mage: The Awakening]

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Hello everyone! I’m calling a break on the blog for the time being, as Mage has hit the point of me writing up my redlines so that the authors come back from the Holidays and start the final draft. Those of you who came to GenCon saw the first stages of the redlines, in traditional … Read more