Mage is a game of hope, action, and hubris in a world that is dark. Sometimes the darkness wins and we go from punk and gothic to horror. Bryce Perry from the horror game podcast Darker Days joins Terry to talk about how to add horror to your mage game.

Just a note, this episode contains discussion of body horror, family terror, harm to children and family conceptually and a number of other things. Look below to get an idea of what we go over.

The Baali - Group of vampires who do terrible things to keep dark things asleep.

Friday the 13th - Archtypal slasher film where kids are killed off in revenge.

Consent Checklist - One method of verifying and checking what game types and themes players are or are not ok with.

Consent in Gaming - A Monte Cook Games publication on how to tackle adult themes.

The Lottery - Short story about a community that practices an annual sacrifice ritual.

The Wicker Man - Movie about an out of towner brought in as sacrifice to a dark thing

10 Candles - A gothic horror game (rather than survival horror) where everyone dies at the end.

Betrayal at the House on the Hill - Board game of discovery then action where tension builds with an omen mechanic.

The Expanse RPG - a Green Ronin game, variant of AGE with a number of interesting mechanics like Churn to create tension and Fortune to replace Health.

Dark Heresy - Game set in the Warhammer Universe with purity and sanity mechanics

Jacob's Ladder - 1990 film about someone recovering from trauma and it not going well. Psychological horror.

Faculty of Horror podcast - a non-scary discussion of horror movies and how they work.

Cosmic Horror in Mage - Our episode on cosmic horror 

Sins Washed Away - the latest CoD publication from the Darker Days folks

The Umbra is explored by many Night-Folk with wraiths in the Shadowlands, changelings in the Dreaming, and Werewolves in the Velvet Shadow. What about mages? Adam and Terry provide a tour of the Tellurian and the Realms of limitless potential full of warring gods, metaphors made real and more than one set of dinosaurs in Beyond the Barrier: The Book of Worlds.

• Umbral Map - A translation of the French map of the Umbra
• Mars Trilogy - Sci fi books by Kim Stanley Robinson where a central theme is "how much should we leave a place unchanged?
• Anders Mage Page Realms - Realms you can insert into the Umbra of your Chronicle.
• Anders Mage Page Umbrood - Umbrood you can use in your Chronicle.
• The Sandman comics by Vertigo - listed in Book of World's recommended reading list and Adam seconds that opinion.  You can not only get great ideas for realms large and small but also see different ways to travel between them.

Episodes Mentioned: 

• Tomes of Magick: Digital Web - Adam and Terry discussion the technomancer's favorite Zone, the Digital Web.
• Verbena Tradition Book - The Seasonal Realms are discussed as mysterious places where no one quite knows where they came.

Books Mentioned :

• The Infinite Tapestry - Revised edition guide that expands many Umbral locations
• Umbra: the Velvet Shadow - Werewolf 20 guide to the Umbra
• Wraith 20 - Core book outlining life as a Wraith
• Book of Oblivion - Wraith 20 guide to areas beyond Stygia and the Shadowlands
• Orpheus Rules - Game were you are mortals projecting into the Underworld
• Scion: Origins - Scion 2e guide to characters and introducing the pantheon and such
• The Primal Order: Pawns - Worth a look for ideas on Umbrood.
• Chessboards: The Planes of Possibility - Adam highly recommends this book for ideas on Umbral realms and how to travel between them.

The world of Mage is one where characters have great power which must be exercised carefully or Paradox will strike. On the other side of the subtly coin is Exalted where whose tagline is "What legends will they tell of your deeds?" Exalted's 3rd edition is out and Chazz Kellner, Exalted author and cohost of The Story Told tells Terry about the high energy energy world of Creation and the systems and settings you can steal from it for your Mage game. 

Notes!

• Graceful Wicked Masques -  2e book about the Fair Folk
• Walking Away from Arcadia's episode on the Fair Folk
• The Compass of Celestial Directions, Vol. VI - Autochthonia - The best cyborg supplement you never knew you needed
• The Fair Folk - 1e reference on the Raksha
• Manual of Exalted Power: Sidereals - Information on the Loom of Fate and the Sidereals
• Laws of Ascension Rulebook Sidereal letter - A letter from a Sidereal now Avatar saying how the world's connect

Terry's growing list of ways to mis-say Chejop Kejak

• Croptop Carjack 
• Flat Top Keyhack
• Chop Shop iMac
• Hot Pot Flapjack
• Cheops Kayak
• Drug Stop MacAttack

Mage defaults to the Traditions, Technocracy, Nephandi and Marauders, but what about mages who've stepped away from the Ascension War? Crafts are groups of mages who often work tightly tied to a paradigm and culture and Book of Crafts dives into eight of these. Terry and Adam talk templars, dragon wizards, mambos, righteous crocodile gods, kahunas, and more.

White Wolf Magazine - Magazine that ran through the mid 90s.

Dragons of the East - Revised book that update the Wu-Keng and Wu Lung

Midnight Express episode on Hem-ka Sobk

Dark Ages Mage Pillars and Foundation - Alternative to Spheres

The Fragile Path - The Crafts ignored the call of the Grand Convocation

Mummy episode - Discussion about Mage and Mummy: The Resurrection

Seven Sisters - Historical US women's colleges

Vikings! Runes! Thor! Woven anti-spear magic shirts! The Norse culture is a perennial favorite source of inspiration in the West but what was their magic like? Josh Heath of the Open Halls Project explains to Terry how to introduce Norse magic and supernatural elements into your Mage game.

• Open Halls Project - Josh's project to help serve Heathens in the armed forces
• Ghost Court - a ridiculous party game for 6 or more players about ghosts and the people who sue them.
• Heathenry - a reconstructed set of beliefs based on pre-Christian beliefs from Germanic Europe and north.
• Reconstructionism - Attempts to re-establish a religious movement rather than to modify a contemporary practice to include new beliefs.
• Scandanavian countries - Region in Norther Europe
• The Sámi people - an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula.
• Taking Up The Runes - Book on runic divination
• SEO HELRUNE - Elves and Witchcraft, Seidr and Grimoires
• Wolves of the Sea -
• Sunstone - Possible navigation aide that allowed for finding the sun on cloudy days.
• Thing - type of assembly involving a lawspeaker
• Werewolf the podcast - Josh's Podcast!
• Josh Heath on STV
• Renegades of Mercury - a Wraith the Great War supplement on delivering lost love letters.
• Rokkrtru - Norsephandi
• High Level Games
• Seidr - Form of Norse magic
• Orlog - Moral momentum
• Nålebinding - Type of fiber work

Intro snippet from https://www.bensound.com/

Mage games aren't always at the gritty front lines of the Ascension War or hardscrabble games of survival, it has its places of wonder and hope. Horizon, the Stronghold of Hope is the seat of the Council of the Nine Mystic Traditions and there the nine Primii of the nine Traditions plan, argue, and often scheme in a rich fantasy setting with over 120 other mages. Adam and Terry give a scenic tour of Horizon from Posht, to sword eating contests, to why you should never wear white in November, also the keys to eternal life and the first guidelines on the 6th dot in each sphere.

Notes!

• The logo for the Traditions or possible just Horizon
• Josh Heath and Terry will be at 1d4 Con!
• The nine Primii as of 1997
• A cut of various Scooby Doo "I would have gotten away with it too" moments
• Destiny's Price - A gritty book about cities on the other end of the fantasy spectrum
• Masters of the Art - More detailed book on the life and times of an Archmaster

Next up! Book of Crafts: Whispers of Dissent

The early Nephandi were introduced as a tie in for Werewolf: The Apocalypse but over time they've gone from slavering cultists to the Wyrm to something more insidious. Satyros and Jax talk with Adam and Terry about the state of the Nephandi in M20 as revealed in Book of the Fallen and the heartache and tragedy in which the book was forged.

• 1d4 Con. Community convention in Shephardstown, West Virginia May 15-17th, 2020
• Jax author of Safety Rules for Vampire 5th Edition and Changeling the Lost
• Early Nephandi were just a werewolf tie in, they worshiped the Wyrm
• Fallen companions - Future book of cut material from this book (not yet released)
• Kult - Horror game posited on the demiurge guarding humans from reality has gone away
• Amanda Johnsson - Possible example of a de-inverted Avatar
• Book of the Wyrm - Book on Entropy and its embodiment in Werewolf 
• LessWrong - Community blog and forum with particular following among some in Silicon Valley.
• Roko's basilisk 
• Fucking Magick by  Clementine Morgan - Author recommended by Jax
• Robert Green - Author on topics like strategy and seduction.
• Techgnosis - Work by Erik Davis that inspired Mage
• Satyros Phil Brucato on Patreon
• Powerchords: Music, Magic & Urban Fantasy - Game about music by Satyros

Mummies, to quote the Euthanatoi "Are mummies stuck on the Wheel, or do they ride it like experts?" Originally stuck at no more than 42, a new breed of the immortal walk the earth. They fight the Wyrm in the form of Apophis but also fiercely contest the Web of Faith. Where did they come from, what can they do, and how can you use them in a Mage chronicle? Joel Cotton, veteran Mummy and Mage storyteller shares how to integrate the undying into your game.

Mummy Terms!

Other things!

The Cult of Ecstasy explores the liminal spaces between the magickal and mundane and between the emotive and cerebral to return with wisdom.  Plus sex, drugs, and various musical genres not exclusively rock. Adam and Terry discuss the Cult's varied methods of exploring outer and inner spaces of experience, their history, and their magick.

Show Notes:

• Ascension's Landscape is free on the Storyteller's Vault until Jan 9th. Terry wrote this walk-through of setting up the metaphysical world of Mage. It's sold 150 copies already and getting yours now will include all future updates.
• Josh Heath and Charles Siegel are attempting restarting Paradigma as a community magazine. They're looking for short pieces of about 500 to 2000 words about lore, rules, systems, and reviews. Contact [email protected] for questions or to submit content.
• Anders Mage page for the Cult of Ecstasy
• Kithbook: Satyrs
• Nuwisha Breedbook 
• Corax Breedbook
• Euthanatos Tradition Book
• Revised Cult of Ecstasy Tradition Book
• Destiny's Price

Two interviews!!! Why aren't old books available in PoD? What's next for RPG book publishing? Where does your $45 for a hardback go? Matt McElroy answers these questions and more in a sit down with Terry Robinson from PAX Unplugged.  Then, Travis Legge gives a short sneak preview of Technocracy Reloaded, as well as how to make the ST Vault work as a creator and a year in review of the Onyx Path's Twitch Channel.

Astral Tabletop - Free Virtual Tabletop Software
Pugmire - A game where you're a dog!
Scion phone version
System Resource Document (rulebook) for Bllades in the Dark
Ultra Deluxe kickstarter for Changeling the Dreaming
https://www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath schedule listed every Monday Meeting Notes and
Legendlore

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