By Bryan Armor, Tim Avers, Steven Michael DiPesa, Lenny Gentile, Bruce Hunter,

Conrad Hubbard, Matthew McFarland and Malcolm Sheppard.

Contents 1
Credits Mea Maxima Culpa
Authors: Bryan Armor, Tim Avers, Steven Michael P. David Gill, in addition to being a cool roleplayer
DiPesa, Lenny Gentile, Bruce Hunter, Conrad Hubbard, and all-around nice guy, wrote an entire chapter of the
Matthew McFarland and Malcolm Sheppard Guide to the Traditions — for which he wasn’t properly
World of Darkness created by Mark Rein•Hagen credited. Whoops! Consider this our make-up call.
Storyteller game system designed by Mark Rein•Hagen
Additional Writing: Biscuit, Lynn Davis, Sean Patrick
Fannon, Alejandro Melchor, Kevin A. Murphy, Adam
Tinworth and David Weinstein
Development: Bill Bridges and Jess Heinig
Editing: Janice Sellers
Art Direction: Aileen E. Miles
Cover Art: Christopher Shy
Interior Art: Jason Felix, Landon Foss, Jeff Holt, Leif
Jones, Matthew Mitchell, Alex Sheikman
Layout, Typesetting & Cover Design: Aileen E. Miles

© 2002 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the
publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews and for blank character sheets, which may be
reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire, Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire the Dark Ages, Mage
the Ascension, Hunter the Reckoning, World of Darkness, and Aberrant are registered trademarks of White Wolf
Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Werewolf the Apocalypse, Wraith the Oblivion, Changeling the Dreaming,
Werewolf the Wild West, Mage the Sorcerers Crusade, Wraith the Great War, Trinity, Dark Ages Vampire,
Victorian Age Vampire, Dark Ages Mage, and The Mage Storytellers Handbook are trademarks of White Wolf
Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places, and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf
Publishing, Inc.
The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or
copyright concerned.
This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters, and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements
are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion
is advised.
For a free White Wolf catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF.
Check out White Wolf online at
[Link] [Link], and [Link].
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

2 Mage Storytellers Handbook

 Contents
Introduction: Weaving the Tapestry 4
Chapter One: The Craft 8
Chapter Two: The Awakened Struggle 42
Chapter Three: Awakening the Storyteller 66
Chapter Four: Avatars and Seekings 98
Chapter Five: Alternative Settings 128
Chapter Six: A World of Magic 190

Contents 3
4 Mage Storytellers Handbook
 Introduction:
Weaving the
Tapestry

This is your book. and play up a romantic game, but you still have Spheres,
This is the book that results from a Arete, the quest for Ascension, and all that, right? So
decade of Mage players and fans, from all what do you do if you want to play a game where
of their feedback and ideas, from lots of everyone in the world is a mage? Or if you don’t like the
late brainstorming nights, change-overs way the Spheres are defined but you like their imple-
and revisions. mentation mechanic? Or you want to play high-concept
Usually, a Mage game book advances but can’t wrap your brain around philosophy? It’s the
the storyline, introduces some additional Storyteller’s prerogative to spin a game around and
character ideas, and maybe gives you some change it into something more enjoyable for the troupe.
settings or tools for developing your own stuff. It fits That’s what this book is about: twisting and turning to
neatly into the core framework of the game, expands make Mage your own thing.
current rules or tweaks a few things to fix them. To that end, this book has clarifications and up-
Now this book, in conjunction with you, will break dates on rules, sure. It also presents alternatives to the
them all again. usual Mage game — different ways of looking at chronicle
Mage posits a framework — a modeling set, if you design and magical systems. More than just presenting
will — of rules and setting to play a particular form of options, it presents these as inspirations. These are
game. Sure, you might bend it a little to play a more examples of things you can do, in ways that show you
violence-and-betrayal chronicle, or you could tweak it what you’ll need in order to implement them.

Introduction: Weaving the Tapestry 5

 The Golden Rule
The pages you hold in your hands are full Fold, Spindle and Mutilate!
of rules, clarifications, suggestions and ad- All right, we’ve tossed the Golden Rule out there
vice. Indeed, there are hundreds of pages of and told you to mess around with rules that make the
them. Ultimately, however, they are here game fun. “So why,” you ask, “am I paying for a book that
for one reason — to remind you of that just tells me to make up my own rules?”
supreme guide known as the Golden Rule. Because rule books are like prefab kits. They con-
Even the authors and developers at White tain parts that are tested, that generally fit together, and
Wolf bend the rules, make our own house that usually offer a coherent and internally consistent
rules, and wholeheartedly ignore rules al- framework. Instead of having to make up a whole bunch
together in our efforts to tell stories for our own tabletop of stuff yourself and test it by trial and error, you gain the
groups. We are constantly adjusting, often on the fly, to benefit of premade parts. Mind you, you still have to put
make the game fit the needs of the story instead of them together and you have to make sure you pick the
letting the rules of the game dictate the story. As you parts that you want to use. Instead of forcing a fit, you
read these pages, remember that nothing herein is want to put pieces together into a seamless chronicle —
gospel; nothing in here is the “right way” to do it. This and the published materials help to do that.
book is just a grand collection of ideas, each presented
When you want to diverge markedly from the
in all its raw glory, ripe for you to pluck out and test in
direction of publications, though, you may find yourself
your own games as you strive to tell the best stories you
in empty terrain. Sure, you might have some stuff in
can possibly give to your troupe. Dive in, harvest the
mind from a recent movie, or perhaps you want to
pearls you know will enrich your Storyteller’s chest of
hybridize some rules. That’s where this book comes in:
tricks and shuck the shells that strike you as empty into
You can take a look at ways to try out things you’ve
the discard pile. You will hear a lot of people say that
wanted to do but haven’t put down on paper.
roleplaying games are not about winning or losing, but
those groups of players and Storytellers that have the Prepare for It…
most fun really are “winning the game,” and don’t let The Storytellers Handbook is about preparedness.
anybody tell you otherwise. We hope that our ideas will You can run great games on the fly, but when you want
help you and your troupe win in your efforts to tell to distance yourself from the basic model, you need to
stories that are fun and entertaining for all of you. put your ideas down in concrete form. This book offers
Ultimately, the Storyteller should use the rules as the inspiration that helps you set down your own
tools to enhance the fun of the game for herself and the chronicle directions.
players. This does not necessarily mean wantonly aban- In Mage more so than in other games, preparation
doning any rule just because a single player disagrees is key. It’s a big universe with many complex rules —
with it; after all, the rules are intended to settle argu- you’ll need a bit more than Cliff Notes to make this fly!
ments rather than encourage them. Storytellers who As you read through this book, interact with it. Ask
completely disregard all of the rules will find themselves yourself how it might apply to your game. Put sticky
struggling to keep any sense of order, as players will grow notes on the pages with your own ideas and comments.
confused and frustrated with no idea of what to expect When you don’t just read about an idea, but you turn it
from the game. On the other hand, Storytellers who over in your mind and see what you can do with it, you’ll
never bend on any rule are likely to find the game has not only give it your own personal spin but you’ll garner
become a cage, with the Storyteller and players alike a more comprehensive understanding of it.
trapped by the dictates of someone else’s idea of what So take notes. Class is in session and this is your
makes a game fun. The decision to ignore or change or textbook…but it’s a ride through wondrous realms and
bend a rule is an ever-present one, but a good Storyteller the graduates are all Storytellers with the right stuff.
will gradually learn when she should stand by the rules
as a method of necessary order and when she should What’s in It for Me?
overturn them in favor of story progress. We hope this So how can this book help you make up your own
book will help teach Storytellers to make these deci- stuff? Sounds like a contradiction in terms. Yes and no
sions on their own as often as it offers specific decisions. — while this book can’t be a comprehensive guide to

6 Mage Storytellers Handbook

everything, it can help point you in the direction of many planning with some quick time-saving templates or
different and interesting ideas, and it can give examples pared-down records.
of ways to implement those ideas. Among these pages Chapter Four: Avatars and Seekings. Vital to a
you’ll find… mage’s magical development is the Seeking, a sort of
Chapter One: The Craft. Errata, addenda and magical mystery tour initiated by a willworker’s own
answers to those burning questions and errant loopholes Avatar to goad him toward enlightenment. But how in
you’ve always wondered about. Sure, some rules have the world do you devise and execute one of these strange
had minor corrections over time. (Nobody’s perfect.) trips in a story? This chapter tells you how and produces
You’ll find answers to your questions here as well as myriad ideas for Avatars of all Essences.
some ideas on why things were done the way they were. Chapter Five: Alternative Settings. From fanciful
Additionally, this section includes a boatload of worlds of magic to spins on the outcome of the Ascen-
optional rules and rules to change around the game. If sion War, this chapter covers several samples of
it’s a rule that would totally alter Paradox, or change chronicles that veer far afield from the usual Mage fare.
Abilities or alter the Spheres, it’s in here. Plus a checklist for making your own chronicles, ideas
Chapter Two: The Awakened Struggle. Unlike on things you can tweak or change, and a bunch of
many roleplaying games, Mage can often seem overly material to enhance your specific themes for otherwise
subtle and abstract. The villain is obscured and may not usual chronicles.
be a villain at all when viewed from his own perspective. If you’ve been itching to run a Mage game that’s a
The various sources of dramatic conflict and the pos- space opera, or you want to play around with mages in
sible antagonists central to Mage’s metaplot are a fantastic setting out of comic books or movies, this is
introduced here, along with ideas for using them to the place to look. Before the World of Darkness be-
drive stories and plots. comes passé or repetitive, browse through these ideas.
Chapter Three: Awakening the Storyteller. Ad- Some of them might spark a new direction for your
vanced advice for Storytellers who want to spruce up chronicle or spawn a completely new one.
the game or who keep having problems running it. Chapter Six: A World of Magic. A long, hard look
Setting up in advance, advice for quick game solutions, at crossovers and where mages fit in a unified World of
ways to simplify your systems and paperwork. Motives, Darkness — and what you want to watch out for! Ways
themes, and methods. Plus a dissertation on the basics to integrate other game themes and characters. Expand-
of philosophy and how you can apply that cerebral angle ing the World of Darkness to encompass other ideas
to Mage. beyond the core of Mage.
Obviously, if you’re running Mage you’re probably More than just giving you some crossover rules,
a pretty advanced Storyteller already. Chapter Three’s though, Chapter Six is also a toolkit — it examines
advice covers unusual situations, offers a little back-up where you’re likely to run into problems with mixed
when players get out of hand and shows you how you can venues and how to address those issues. In some cases
bring your game up to speed by combining advance they may not even be problems or may spark new ideas.

Introduction: Weaving the Tapestry 7

8 Mage Storytellers Handbook
Chapter One:
The Craft

Running a compelling, engaging Mage mindset to capture the game’s mood? Does Reso-
game is hard work! The Storyteller — nance really work the way your players all claim that
you — must put a lot of thought into it does? What the heck was the development and
what the game’s about, how to execute writing team thinking, anyway?
it, and which areas of the theme and Let’s start small, with the niggling rules, and
mood to focus upon. It may not seem like then move up to the big time: the assumptions
much at first, but it’s a lot to juggle. Do behind why Mage not only works the way that it
your Storyteller characters have the right does, but has produced the many books it has.

Chapter One: The Craft 9

 FAQ
Visitors to the White Wolf website will 12 Ascension’s Right Hand
recognize questions from the Mage 13 Mage (second edition)
game’s Frequently Asked Questions 14 Mage Storytellers Screen and Companion (second edition)
herein. In some cases they’ve been ex- 15 Void Engineers
panded upon, as necessary. You’ll also
16 Horizon: Stronghold of Hope
find answers to several other questions
that may have come up in the course of 17 Book of Crafts
a long-term chronicle. 18 Book of Worlds
What happened to the numbers on 19 Book of Mirrors
the book spines? 20 Syndicate
The numbers on the spines of various Mage: The 21 Technomancer’s Toybox
Ascension books, sort of reminiscent of the Halo 22 Digital Web 2.0 (misnumbered as 21)
numbers from various Nine Inch Nails CDs and 23 Orphan’s Survival Guide
videos, provide a method of keeping track of which 24 Tales of Magick: Dark Adventure
Mage books you do and don’t have. The numbers 25 Guide to the Technocracy
existed in the waaaaaay back very beginning on the 26 Initiates of the Art
first books, but they’re not used any more.
27 Spirit Ways
In too many cases a spine number wound up
28 Masters of the Art
being more trouble than it was worth. They never
had much use (“I need Mage book #21!”) and they What happened to (my favorite stuff that wasn’t
caused some confusion when weird events tran- in any book)?
spired — anything from books coming out of order Victims of word counts. Mage revised, for ex-
due to changing release dates, to books with the ample clocked in with 90,000 words over what we
wrong numbers! could print. For reference’s sake, that’s about equal
By the time of the Revised edition, it was clear to an extra 160 pages of material that just couldn’t fit
that the spine numbers, while perhaps whimsically in the main book. It’s unfortunate but it’s also a law
flavorful, didn’t serve much purpose yet conversely of publishing. It’s up to the developer to decide
could cause problems. (Yes, people actually com- what’s essential and what can be held until later. So
plained when a typo led to a duplicated spine number if you thought something was at the heart of Mage
on one printing.) but you didn’t see it in the book, chances are that it
was held for a later release.
Perhaps more noteworthy, some Mage books —
the Tradition books — never had a spine number, so Of course, with the release of revised books and
there was no way to fit them into any sort of compre- updated Guides, a lot of material has finally made it
hensive list. to press. Still, every once in a while something
doesn’t fit because of space (like Merits and Flaws in
This list includes all of them, including editions
Laws of Ascension) or manages to slip through the
that are no longer in print:
cracks into obscurity (like Lions of Zion, who never
01 Mage (first edition) appeared in the revised Storytellers Companion).
02 Mage Storytellers Screen (first edition) I’m confused by the new Paradox system.
03 Book of Chantries Does Paradox always backlash? Does it always
04 Loom of Fate release the entire amount? The descriptions seem
05 Progenitors contradictory.
06 Digital Web Paradox is a fickle force. Sometimes it back-
07 Book of Shadows lashes; sometimes it waits. Sometimes it’s a hammer
08 Chaos Factor and sometimes it’s like sandpaper against your skin.
09 Iteration X Paradox usually ignites as it’s garnered but not
10 Book of Madness always. Figure about a one-in-ten chance that Para-
11 New World Order dox will hang on a mage instead of backlashing
immediately. Of course, the player can always spend

10 Mage Storytellers Handbook

Willpower to prevent the Paradox from going off all well be coincidence — the mage does his magic and
at once. Ultimately it’s up to the Storyteller to waves his hands, but the device is doing the work,
decide whether the Paradox explodes as gathered or right? As far as people can tell, anyway. Similarly, a
whether it hangs in the balance. mage may have special knowledge about some little-
When Paradox backlashes, it’s usually easiest to known “fact” of science that he leans on, but if it’s
simply fire off all of the Paradox accumulated at once not widely spread and believed, it won’t appear to be
and look up the results in the appropriate damage a natural part of what could have happened, so it’ll be
and flaw tables. If you want to run with more uncer- vulgar magic or science.
tainty in your Paradox, you can roll a die pool equal When a mage does vulgar magic, he cuts loose
to the Paradox rating of the mage; each success (6 or with an effect and fires off something that clearly
more) causes one point of Paradox to discharge from violates the natural order. Simple. A coincidental
the pool in a backlash. (Permanent Paradox can still effect is usually much more subtle, though. The
discharge in this case, but it doesn’t go away.) Take mage sets magic in motion but then weaves that
the results for the amount of total Paradox that magic into the Tapestry. The magic nudges events
backlashes; the mage stores up the rest. into a certain direction; those without magic can’t
In the event that a mage has some hanging even tell that anything unusual happened. The
Paradox left in his pool, it still disperses at a rate of mage might not even know what is going to happen!
one point per week, as stated in the rules. The player should describe a plausible coincidence,
What are the differences between vulgar and but the mage merely sets up events and probably
coincidental magic? What happens when a mage doesn’t even know if the end result came from
casts coincidental magic, and how much does the chance or from magic. For instance, a Hermetic
player have to describe? The rules seem kinda mage could invoke the power of Forces to strike an
sketchy. enemy down coincidentally. The mage weaves the
Vulgar and coincidental magic are described in magic into the Tapestry and hopes that it works. Lo
Mage on pp. 137–138, but the descriptions leave a lot and behold, a severed power line hits the foe and
of leeway. Ultimately, the full limits on what counts shocks him. Unusual, but it could happen, so it’s a
as “vulgar” versus “coincidental” are up to the game coincidence, and nobody can really tell if it was
that the Storyteller wants to run. magic or not. The player knew by rolling dice, and
the player described the plausible coincidence (sub-
In brief, coincidental magic is anything that
ject to the Storyteller’s approval), but the mage
could reasonably have happened without the inter-
only knows that he relied on magic, he believed,
vention of magic. If a mage does some mojo and a
and lo, his enemy was struck down.
couple of cars crash, well, they could’ve crashed
anyway; it’s a coincidence. Likewise, if the mage Individual Storytellers should play with the
prays for intervention while an enemy is chasing him boundaries of coincidence as it suits the nature of the
and suddenly the enemy’s elevator gets stuck, it’s a game. Coincidence and vulgarity will shift from time
coincidence — not because all miracles are coinci- to time, place to place and person to person, too.
dental but because an elevator could conceivably What’s permanent Paradox, how do you get it,
just happen to become stuck. what does it do and is it the same as a permanent
Vulgar magic is anything outside the bounds of Paradox Flaw?
coincidence. The mage hurls lightning from his fin- Permanent Paradox results when a character
gers — that couldn’t plausibly happen in the real has some sort of massively unusual alteration that
world, so it’s obviously magic! Similarly, if a mage consistently and constantly violates the “rules” of
steps into a bathroom in one city and steps out of one reality.
in another city, it’s clearly something that couldn’t For instance, a mage can, using Life magic, give
have “just happened,” and it’s vulgar magic. himself better muscles. Usually this use is short term
The boundaries of coincidence and vulgarity to give a temporary boost; the mage garners a small
aren’t set, though. The Consensus has some effect: amount of Paradox and suffers Pattern bleeding be-
What people believe is possible shapes what is pos- cause of the stress of altering his personal Pattern.
sible. Thus, if a mage manages to convince people On the other hand, a Master of Life might use magic
that he has some incredible gizmo that really works to preserve himself beyond normal human lifespan,
and lets him appear to hurl lightning, the effect may retaining youth and vigor for a century. This usage

Chapter One: The Craft 11

clearly violates the “laws” of conventional human things exist. Hence, vampires and other night beasties
existence. Why doesn’t the Master suffer Pattern lurk in the real world.
bleeding? Because instead of temporarily stretching The “real world” is the material world. Any-
his Pattern, he permanently rewrites it. The problem thing can exist in the Umbra, regardless of
is that he rewrites it in a way that reality doesn’t consensual belief (although even here there are
accept, so he constantly has the looming threat of certain laws, and hence Paradox). It seems that the
Paradox hovering over him. In game terms, he has reality filters only really kick in for the material
permanent Paradox. world, much as an individual’s own ego will not
If your mage garners permanent Paradox, mark it allow certain thoughts to become conscious, rel-
by filling in (not just X’ing) the Paradox box(es). egating them to the unconscious to reappear later as
That Paradox always counts for the character’s Para- dreams or Freudian slips.
dox backlashes — it means worse backlashes and Of course, you can play around with the idea of
more damage — but it never goes away. It can’t be who exactly makes up the Consensus. It’s not neces-
removed with Prime magic. It only goes away if the sarily only humans. Maybe spirits, animals or even
mage undoes the thing that caused it (such as remov- unknown others participate in this masterful tapes-
ing a cybernetic enhancement) or if the Consensus try called the Consensus. While belief affects the
changes to permit it (such as if the Consensus comes Consensus, it doesn’t necessary create it. Some “laws”
to accept that cybernetic enhancement as “nor- of nature may exist independent of belief, and
mal”). Once that happens it converts to normal others might change with varying degrees of ease
Paradox and can be discharged. and speed.
Permanent Paradox is not the same as a perma- When stepping sideways, does the Avatar Storm
nent Paradox Flaw. The latter results from a nasty cause damage from failed Spirit dice, or from a
backlash giving the mage some hindrance that per- separate roll of Arete + Paradox? And does the
manently hampers him: a withered hand, dead-white Storm affect anything other than mages?
hair, a Derangement or some similar problem. It’s Arete + permanent Paradox. The Storm
Okay, smarty pants, so if the Consensus says affects only enlightened individuals and creations —
“reality is what people believe,” then how come the that is, mages and Talismans.
Consensus works? Most people don’t believe that So how come the Avatar Storm doesn’t affect
reality is whatever they want to believe, so it shapeshifters, spirits, what-have-you?
shouldn’t be, right? The Avatar Storm is attracted to strong, power-
The Consensus is an aftereffect of the creation of ful Avatars. It’s like lightning striking a magnet.
the Tellurian. Like the existence of Prime energy, it’s Shapeshifters aren’t exactly human and certainly
not really subject to interpretation. Prime energy don’t have Avatars in the Mage sense (they have
(Quintessence) exists in spite of the fact that most spirits, but they are part spirit). Spirit entities, by the
normal people don’t believe in it. In some cases there same token, are not necessarily Avatars.
are things that just “seem to be,” whether due to Why did the Avatar Storm happen the way that
historical inertia or cosmological constants. it did? It seems like a cop-out to take Masters and
In Mage, belief, channeled through will, creates the Umbra out of the game.
reality. Mages can do this consciously because they Some people think the Avatar Storm is just a
are Awakened. Sleepers do so only on the deepest plot device that came out of nowhere. Well, multiple
most unconscious levels, such that individual belief nuclear devices went off in the Underworld. The
amounts for little, but the collective mix of such Sixth Maelstrom arrived. Doissetep collapsed in the
unconscious convictions is strong enough to bind largest display of Forces in memory. The Digital Web
reality to a particular mode of being — to make it crashed and reset. The Tradition stronghold of
follow certain rules of what is acceptable and what is Concordia/ Horizon was invaded and fell! And people
not. Since it is an unconscious process, people can’t think that the logical result of these events upon the
simple wish things weren’t different (unless they’re spirit world should be nothing happening?
Awakened). In addition, many neurotic contents of
In a game-world sense, the Avatar Storm is a
this collective unconscious of sorts might well make
gross consequence: It’s a reminder of the impend-
their way into consensual reality, even though no-
ing Sixth Age/Armageddon and a slap in the face
body in his right mind would consciously let such
to arrogant mages (and others) who thought that

12 Mage Storytellers Handbook

they could meddle around with cosmically de- What level of Life magic is required to heal
structive forces. other people?
In a theme/ mood sense, the Avatar Storm helps As implied in Life 3, “To more complex creatures,
to make the Umbra more isolated and mysterious. It she can exert change, causing the entity to grow or
also cuts the Masters off from Earth, thereby chang- change as she desires,” a mage can heal or injure other
ing the power dynamic of the game. people (and complex animals) with Life 3. Transform-
See also the metaplot wrap-up on pp. 33-35. ing the Pattern into something else requires Life 4.
It seems really hard to build a fast Effect. With What’s the deal with the metaplot?
penalties for fast-casting, required successes and See pp. 32-35 for a discussion of all things
the like, most mages will have trouble getting more metaplotty.
than one or two successes in a turn. How are Geasa (Mage Rev pp. 298–299) sup-
This rule is deliberate; mages should take time to posed to work?
prepare, cast their Effects wisely and use brains, not A geas Flaw reduces the value of a corresponding
brute force. Magic turns the universe on its head — Merit or Flaw. The point table, unfortunately, is
it is not something done quickly or lightly! Magic is backward (oops). So if you have a very simple geas,
not an instant cure-all for everything. A mage can’t it’s worth 1 point — it reduces the cost of a Merit or
rely solely on magic to fix every problem. Flaw only slightly, because you’re unlikely to break it
A mage under stress is probably better suited and thus unlikely to lose the Merit or suffer the Flaw.
using some subtle magic to nudge events into her If you have a very nasty geas, it can be worth up to 5
favor or splitting dice pools to get a simple per- points — it will mitigate a Merit because you’re
sonal Effect backing up a normal action. Real almost certain to lose it. Of course, a geas’ value can
titanic workings will take time and effort. If a mage never be more than one less than the value of its
just has to do something phenomenal in one turn, corresponding Merit or Flaw.
that’s what Willpower and Quintessence expendi- A straightforward example: Say that your mage
tures are for. Remember, too, that if all that your has Sphere Natural: Spirit (a 5-point Merit). Then
mage wants to do is kill someone with vulgar magic say the character has a geas to always leave a small
that successes on the attack roll do add to damage sacrifice of food for the spirits when eating — a minor
as with any other sort of attack, so even a one- geas, worth about 2 points. The cost of the Sphere
success fire blast can inflict some hefty damage Natural Merit is now only 3 points, but if the mage
with a good shot. ever fails to fulfill the geas, he loses the Merit.
If a Storyteller wants to let mages build faster As a Flaw, consider a mage with the Crucial
Effects, it’s easiest to get rid of the fast-casting diffi- Component: sunlight Flaw. This Flaw is 2 points.
culty penalty and to loosen up the success chart so The mage also takes a geas: always eat your veg-
that one or two successes can still score useful results. etables, a 1-point geas. The mage gains one freebie
Now you know what was intended — that magic point for the Flaw, but if he ever fails to eat his
be a demanding but rewarding craft. If you want to veggies, he suffers from the Flaw in the future. (In
change it, you can. this case, you’re getting points for a Flaw you don’t
Um, what are the Technocracy’s Conventions, even suffer unless you break the geas. Pretty sweet.)
anyway? Can a mage change Traditions?
Blast, that sidebar just didn’t make it into Mage Conditionally, yes. A mage who switches through
Revised. In brief, the Technocracy has five Con- different Traditions during early training gains the
ventions: Iteration X, concerned with computer Dual Traditions Merit (see p. 298 of Mage). Similarly,
and material sciences; New World Order, which a mage might gain this Merit during the course of
works with social engineering and information dis- play at a cost of 14 experience points and lots of role-
tribution; Progenitors, who practice medicine; the playing. The mage gains the indoctrination and
Syndicate, which works with money and econom- skills of both Traditions at once, which is why it’s
ics; and the Void Engineers, who explore and chart such an expensive Merit.
unknown places and dimensions. Together they A mage might change to a wholly different Tradi-
uphold the Precepts of Damian, a set of guidelines tion and abandon a former one at some point. The
that exhort them to protect humanity and explore mage probably gains the Probationary Sect Member
the cosmos. Flaw or a similar social penalty. Making such a

Chapter One: The Craft 13

change is akin to a life-changing experience like which represents how much work it takes to change
“getting religion” or suffering a personality shift. The worldviews so drastically and shows why mages so
mage isn’t just learning a different way of magic; the rarely try to switch over.
character’s tearing apart what he knew to be true The mage retains rote knowledge, mundane
about the universe and trying to put something else abilities and mystical backgrounds. Resonance al-
in its place. most certainly increases or changes as a result of
A mage’s Arete doesn’t go down as a result, but such a shift.
it’s quite likely that the mage’s Sphere knowledge What happens when a Tradition mage is Con-
might suffer. After all, a trained Hermetic mage ditioned into the Technocracy (or vice versa)?
knows that by opening the appropriate gates and See the rules for changing Traditions, above:
calling the right binding spells on angelic powers The mage essentially learns a new way to do things,
he can conjure fire, but if that Hermetic mage but old Sphere knowledge is inaccessible until the
discards that information as useless rubbish and mage can figure out how to apply the new tools. The
instead tries to learn to use intuitive technology mage’s experience isn’t wholly lost — the mage is
like a Son of Ether, he must essentially relearn, only paying half cost to regain the Spheres, after all
from scratch, his Spheres. — but it’s still a long road.
The best way to handle this situation is to use Of course, such a character also gains the Proba-
the rules for a mage who loses a unique focus (see tionary Sect Member Flaw. Mages jumped into the
Mage p. 203) or wants to learn to use other foci in Technocracy almost certainly suffer a high level of
addition to a unique focus. The mage has a couple Conditioning (see Guide to the Technocracy).
of choices: he can cast spells by “surpassing foci” That is still better than trying to Awaken some-
and just forcing the magic to work, or he can start one from scratch, and it’s easier for a former
learning a new focus — the new Tradition’s focus Traditionalist to relearn old Spheres than for a
set — for a Sphere by rebuying his existing dots at newly Enlightened operative to learn them, which
half cost. Yes, it is a very expensive proposition,

14 Mage Storytellers Handbook

explains why the Technocracy places a premium on seemed like a good idea at the time.” Mages do
capturing and reconditioning Tradition mages in- have special abilities, but they are neither om-
stead of always killing them. (This custom also nipotent nor infallible.
gives you great plot hooks for “rescue our friend Why aren’t Technocrats and the Umbra in the
before he’s Conditioned.”) core book any more? How do you play the game
Say, could I use those rules above for changing without the spirit world or the main antagonists?!?
my mage’s foci? Technocrats aren’t supposed to be the main
You bet. You can overcome the need for a unique antagonists any more. In early editions they had a
focus and replace it with the normal focus limits of very one-dimensional “black hat” caricature, paint-
the Tradition by paying an extra 50% for the cost of ing them as lurid villains against the Traditions.
each Sphere level in that Sphere. That strips the With the release of books like Guide to the Tech-
penalties for the unique focus and allows the charac- nocracy, they’re now playable as misguided humans
ter to use the normal Tradition set. Why would you with their own agendas. Since they’re not “the en-
ever do this? Because you still garner all the bonuses emy,” they don’t really belong in the adversarial
for using the original unique focus, if you keep it. position of the core rules, and putting them there
What does Resonance do? Why’d you bother would’ve only propagated the idea that they were
putting it in if it’s so vague? still “the enemy.” Instead, “the enemy” for mages is
Resonance is expanded upon in Guide to the much more pervasive and subtle — it can be any-
Traditions. It’s listed as a statistic primarily to draw thing from personal issues that the mage must face in
attention: While Resonance existed in prior editi