horus42
2011-05-26, 06:08 PM
So, I was watching Inception earlier today, and had what I think was a pretty good idea, but I'd like to run it by some other roleplayers, and see what your opinions are. It involves reworking the fluff for Mage: The Awakening, and tossing in some from Inception. (Although maybe the name Awakening still fits...)
Spoilered for length:
Shared dreaming is a relatively new technology. With it, it is fairly simple to enter the mind of another through their dreams. You can find out their deepest secrets, without them even realizing it, or you can simply use the dreams to live out your fantasies. For you see, using this technology makes you a lucid dreamer, and when you realize you're dreaming... Anything is possible...
In the dream world, the very forces of nature are at your disposal. Because nothing is real, you can shape the false reality to your every whim. At least, in theory. No one has ever gotten that good. But with practice, you can become like a god.
There are many ways to approach shaping the dream. We've divided the various parts of reality one can manipulate into ten different categories: Time, Fate, Forces, Matter, Space, Mind, Life, Death, Prime, and Spirit. Time allows you to slow, speed up, or even stop the flow of time. Fate allows you to manipulate probability. With Forces, the elements are yours to control, from fire, to gravity, to radiation. Matters gives you the ability to shape physical matter into whatever you wish. Space gives you mastery over the very fabric of space itself. With Mind, you can read, or even control, the thoughts of others. Life makes you master over living things, just as Death allows you to raise and control the dead. Prime and Spirit are... Odd, however. Prime allows you to manipulate the very nature of the dream itself, the principles on which the entire system operates. And Spirit... Well, let's just say that sometimes, you aren't alone in the dream. There are strange, alien beings who feed off of humanity, and this gives you some power over them.
There are five Paths of learning how to master the dream world, each of which focus on two of the categories. The Acanthus focus on Fate and Time, the Mastigos learn Mind and Space. The Moros are masters of Death and Matter. The Obrimos control Forces and Prime, and the Thyrsus focus on Life and Spirit. We'll have you meet up with some people from each of the Paths, and let you choose what you want to learn. And yes, I know the names are weird, but I didn't name them, so don't blame me.
Now, some people use this technology for profit, like us. We go in, learn what we need to, and come back out, selling that information to the highest bidder. Others use it for fun. They get off on the rush of feeling so powerful. Some of them tend to lose track of what's real and what's not, though. They get addicted to it, and retreat so deep into the dream world that they have no chance of coming out. There are some people who believe that if you go deep enough, you can still remain in the dream world after dying in the real world. And let me tell you, those Nightmares who've lost all grip on reality are in there, make no mistake.
Oh, and before I forget, the dream world is populated. Projections of the dreamer's subconscious are all around. For the most part, they act like normal people, but don't get too showy around them with the magic. Yes, I know it's not -really- magic, but in there, it's close enough. If you do, the subconscious strikes back at you. At first, it might be something simple, like a spell doesn't work the way you want it too. But eventually... It can get bad. The "reality" of the dream starts messing with you, and if you keep at it, the projections will swarm you and tear you apart. Which isn't really too bad, since if you die in a dream, you just wake up. Though it still hurts like Hell while it's happening.
So, after I've told you all this... You interested in a job?
Basically, Orders are out, Atlantis is out, the process of Awakening is out, (you learn Magic from a mentor), you only have your Magic in the dream, and Paradox is an effect of the dreamer's subconscious detecting you. I'm also thinking about tweaking the Paths themselves, and mixing up the Arcana. For example, Time and Space would go together, but I'm not sure how all this will end up.
Any thoughts?
Spoilered for length:
Shared dreaming is a relatively new technology. With it, it is fairly simple to enter the mind of another through their dreams. You can find out their deepest secrets, without them even realizing it, or you can simply use the dreams to live out your fantasies. For you see, using this technology makes you a lucid dreamer, and when you realize you're dreaming... Anything is possible...
In the dream world, the very forces of nature are at your disposal. Because nothing is real, you can shape the false reality to your every whim. At least, in theory. No one has ever gotten that good. But with practice, you can become like a god.
There are many ways to approach shaping the dream. We've divided the various parts of reality one can manipulate into ten different categories: Time, Fate, Forces, Matter, Space, Mind, Life, Death, Prime, and Spirit. Time allows you to slow, speed up, or even stop the flow of time. Fate allows you to manipulate probability. With Forces, the elements are yours to control, from fire, to gravity, to radiation. Matters gives you the ability to shape physical matter into whatever you wish. Space gives you mastery over the very fabric of space itself. With Mind, you can read, or even control, the thoughts of others. Life makes you master over living things, just as Death allows you to raise and control the dead. Prime and Spirit are... Odd, however. Prime allows you to manipulate the very nature of the dream itself, the principles on which the entire system operates. And Spirit... Well, let's just say that sometimes, you aren't alone in the dream. There are strange, alien beings who feed off of humanity, and this gives you some power over them.
There are five Paths of learning how to master the dream world, each of which focus on two of the categories. The Acanthus focus on Fate and Time, the Mastigos learn Mind and Space. The Moros are masters of Death and Matter. The Obrimos control Forces and Prime, and the Thyrsus focus on Life and Spirit. We'll have you meet up with some people from each of the Paths, and let you choose what you want to learn. And yes, I know the names are weird, but I didn't name them, so don't blame me.
Now, some people use this technology for profit, like us. We go in, learn what we need to, and come back out, selling that information to the highest bidder. Others use it for fun. They get off on the rush of feeling so powerful. Some of them tend to lose track of what's real and what's not, though. They get addicted to it, and retreat so deep into the dream world that they have no chance of coming out. There are some people who believe that if you go deep enough, you can still remain in the dream world after dying in the real world. And let me tell you, those Nightmares who've lost all grip on reality are in there, make no mistake.
Oh, and before I forget, the dream world is populated. Projections of the dreamer's subconscious are all around. For the most part, they act like normal people, but don't get too showy around them with the magic. Yes, I know it's not -really- magic, but in there, it's close enough. If you do, the subconscious strikes back at you. At first, it might be something simple, like a spell doesn't work the way you want it too. But eventually... It can get bad. The "reality" of the dream starts messing with you, and if you keep at it, the projections will swarm you and tear you apart. Which isn't really too bad, since if you die in a dream, you just wake up. Though it still hurts like Hell while it's happening.
So, after I've told you all this... You interested in a job?
Basically, Orders are out, Atlantis is out, the process of Awakening is out, (you learn Magic from a mentor), you only have your Magic in the dream, and Paradox is an effect of the dreamer's subconscious detecting you. I'm also thinking about tweaking the Paths themselves, and mixing up the Arcana. For example, Time and Space would go together, but I'm not sure how all this will end up.
Any thoughts?