Mage: The Awakening, with a Homestuck twist

[Cute_Riolu]

Homestuck is a webcomic by Andrew Hussie. If you haven't read it (I like it quite a lot, though I'm not gonna say you would!), feel free to ask for clarification regarding things I refer to, or to just ignore them!

I plan to run a game for a few friends of mine of Mage: The Awakening (a pen-and-paper roleplaying system), and when I was reading through it, I noticed that it was rather uniquely suited for running a game of Sburb, at least compared to most systems, out of the box, due to the way the magic works. The system encourages creativity in its use and the various spell schools have plenty of similarity to Sburb's aspects for that quarter.

Now, this is going to be the first game I've GMed, so I'm looking for advice in that quarter, as well as simply for running Mage: The Awakening in general.

One of the questions I have about New World of Darkness is whether there is anything like Resources merit, but instead of representing money, as it seems to, it would instead represent the balance of an item? I'd like to allow the players to alchemize things, with a tiered balance system according to the point in the game they're in, so that I don't have to arbitrarily decide if they can create something or not.

I'm going to be including a few different Homestuck-related traits such as alchemization, as above, and using the homestuck aspects instead of spell schools. I've been trying to figure out how Sburb Classes would affect a character. Maybe just giving a bonus when acting according to their class?

I'm open to using a different system if I find that it suits better, but I really like how Mage: The Awakening encourages creativity. Thanks for your time!

[Kesnit]

What do you mean by "alchemize" and "balancing an item"?

[AuraTwilight]

One of the questions I have about New World of Darkness is whether there is anything like Resources merit, but instead of representing money, as it seems to, it would instead represent the balance of an item? I'd like to allow the players to alchemize things, with a tiered balance system according to the point in the game they're in, so that I don't have to arbitrarily decide if they can create something or not.

What about having the Resources merit give a crapton of Grist and Boonbucks instead?

Also, to maybe save you some work as far as inventing the wheel goes, have you looked into Sburbage Worlds (A Homestuck hack of Savage Worlds)?

I'm also incredibly partial to this one:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244842

[Cute_Riolu]

What do you mean by "alchemize" and "balancing an item"?

Alchemization is a thing in Sburb that involves combining items to create new things, anything from a jetpack to a nuke. That's what I mean by balancing; anything can be created through alchemization, so there needs to be some way to keep it from getting ridiculous.

And while I'd like to actually USE grist and boonbucks, I would have to be just as arbitrary as I would with Resources.

While Sburbage Worlds is okay, my friends and I aren't the biggest fans of Fourth Edition-style rules.

I'm looking into the other system that you linked.

[Eurus]

I know very little about OWoD, but in NWoD (which I think Awakening is, right?), almost every "magic item" has a dot value. In Mage, that'd be Artifacts; they're all 1-5 dots (or, in theory, even higher, but higher than 5 and you usually hit plot device territory).

[Shinizak]

Alright, as someone who is familiar with both systems and stories I have to say a few things, do not adhere to the homestuck game-structure AT ALL. take themes you like and put them in, but avoid the assigned planet/quest themes altogether, you cannot effectively run 2, 3, or 4 simultaneous adventures together. Use the preexisting story for mage as a guide to apply the homestuck story lines and themes, they mesh almost obnoxiously well.

Make it so that there are 2 realms (the light and dark kingdoms) who are warring over the ultimate prize. 3 mages (or 4 or 5) have had their avatars awoken partially ascended into the mystical realm of Atlantis (or where ever) and must now stop the invasion of the 2 kingdoms in the mythic realms(the umbra) while dealing with 3 (or 4 or 5) denizens (ultra high power spirits) who are cr*pping up the city to fit their own twisted ideal of perfection (thus destroying the "land") and the mages must heal the city of the denizen's influence before going to the mythic lands and sorting out the battle over Skaia, Atlantis, what ever.

Over the course of the game they will meet a wizard who can combine any item through alchemy(alchemizer), meet a spirit of construction who continually adds to their sanctuary for some unknown reason (luckily he takes requests), and discover a location which has an impossible(?) connection to their past.

Also, do not add trolls until way late in the game, even if you do want to introduce trolls in, try to make a new species altogether before ham-fisting trolls into the mix. Also, Make sure the the 2 kingdoms (or 3 or 4) are not nice verses mean, make them both unique, and have their own list of good qualities and bad qualities. Last but not least make sure to inject a HEALTHY dose of creativity into the mix, and don't be afraid to through something you don't like or need out the window.

[Cute_Riolu]

Alright, as someone who is familiar with both systems and stories I have to say a few things, do not adhere to the homestuck game-structure AT ALL. take themes you like and put them in, but avoid the assigned planet/quest themes altogether, you cannot effectively run 2, 3, or 4 simultaneous adventures together. Use the preexisting story for mage as a guide to apply the homestuck story lines and themes, they mesh almost obnoxiously well.

Make it so that there are 2 realms (the light and dark kingdoms) who are warring over the ultimate prize. 3 mages (or 4 or 5) have had their avatars awoken partially ascended into the mystical realm of Atlantis (or where ever) and must now stop the invasion of the 2 kingdoms in the mythic realms(the umbra) while dealing with 3 (or 4 or 5) denizens (ultra high power spirits) who are cr*pping up the city to fit their own twisted ideal of perfection (thus destroying the "land") and the mages must heal the city of the denizen's influence before going to the mythic lands and sorting out the battle over Skaia, Atlantis, what ever.

Over the course of the game they will meet a wizard who can combine any item through alchemy(alchemizer), meet a spirit of construction who continually adds to their sanctuary for some unknown reason (luckily he takes requests), and discover a location which has an impossible(?) connection to their past.

Also, do not add trolls until way late in the game, even if you do want to introduce trolls in, try to make a new species altogether before ham-fisting trolls into the mix. Also, Make sure the the 2 kingdoms (or 3 or 4) are not nice verses mean, make them both unique, and have their own list of good qualities and bad qualities. Last but not least make sure to inject a HEALTHY dose of creativity into the mix, and don't be afraid to through something you don't like or need out the window.

While I appreciate the input, I do not plan to have separate planets for the players to begin with. They will all enter together onto the same planet, though with separate kernelsprites. We've decided that toward that end, they'll all either live in the same cul-de-sac or within the same dorm or apartment building; their entry item will be some form of puzzle, or perhaps matryoshka dolls that instead of breaking, they'll have to put together, entering into, perhaps, the Land of Borders and Boundaries, their collective planet quartered and divided.

I'm not running this game for the Mage mechanics, I'm running it because we all want to play a Homestuck game. It may take some effort, but I'm willing to put it forth to instead apply Homestuck mechanics to Mage. I don't expect it will take terribly much effort, to be honest.

I've drawn inspiration from various Homestuck-based fiction I've read toward this end. In their explorations, they'll eventually come across a laboratory where they can apply their aspect powers to the large Knights, Bishops, and Rooks of Prospit.


I know very little about OWoD, but in NWoD (which I think Awakening is, right?), almost every "magic item" has a dot value. In Mage, that'd be Artifacts; they're all 1-5 dots (or, in theory, even higher, but higher than 5 and you usually hit plot device territory).

That is an excellent suggestion that I will certainly look into.

To both of you, do you have any advice for running combat? How much effort should I put into defining NPCs? Should I have a character sheet for common NPCs that I apply templates to as necessary?

[One Tin Soldier]

For nameless mooks, I'd advise not even bothering with stats, or at least not all of them. Just decide on what dice pools you want them to have, as well as how much health/defense/armor/willpower(at least, if your pcs can drain wp).

Major npc's can get between basic stat writeups and full sheets.

I'm also interested to see where you go with this. My group has vaguely considered running a FATE homestuck game, though the idea never went anywhere. I think Mage could work quite well, too. Determining the class power sets might be difficult, though.

[Cute_Riolu]

Determining the class power sets might be difficult, though.

Yes, that's my main difficulty now. I need to figure out what the Class should affect and how it should affect it. I was thinking of perhaps making the Class provide a moderate bonus to things linked to its mythological role, but I'd rather give it at least something concrete.

[One Tin Soldier]

Yes, that's my main difficulty now. I need to figure out what the Class should affect and how it should affect it. I was thinking of perhaps making the Class provide a moderate bonus to things linked to its mythological role, but I'd rather give it at least something concrete.

After letting it stew in my subconcious for a while, here's what I've come up with:
As far as we can tell, each Class/Aspect pair has a unique powerset, aside from flight which is apparently universal. The most accurate way to do it might be to make a single 1-5 list of rotes for each Classpect. That would also be a ton of work, and would kinda defeat the point of using Mage as the system of choice.

Another option is to allow your players to to only use spells from their Arcana that fits their role. They would have to justify any new spell they used. This, however, would require that both you and your players be very familiar with what exactly their classes are supposed to do, which is almost as daunting as creating a whole powerset, considering how variable the class roles can be.

A compromise between these two options would be to work with your players to create a defined powerset for their particular character before the game starts, or perhaps simply a defined set of rules for what they can improvise.

[Cute_Riolu]

Regarding the plot of my game, I'd like some advice. If any of my players are present in this forum, I ask that they please do not read this.

I plan on the primary antagonist (Dersites aside) being a human male approximately 15-ish years older than the players (who will probably be 13-16). He will have entered the game several years before the players (in relative time) and, his singular planet being bereft of consorts, his partner in entering having died due to his inaction. Because of these circumstances, he will be quite insane, and instead of helping Prospit win the game, he instead helps Derse, causing Prospit's royalty to have to go into hiding as they promptly lose the war. Does this seem reasonable for their antagonist?

Regarding the players themselves, their collective entry item will likely be a puzzle of some sort which they have to put together; they'll live either in the same apartment building or a cul-de-sac (they haven't decided yet), which is just as well for me, as it'll make things run much more smoothly. Their land will be the same planet (and perhaps the same race of consorts), split into four quadrants, one for each of them. Their primary goal on the planet will be to the unite their feuding consorts to help take on their denizen and its dersite allies, who have inhabited the planet since their victory over the prospitians. While doing so, they'll need to be careful not to attract too much attention from the Dersites else they'll have more of them to deal with, as the war is no longer being waged directly, instead being fought guerrilla-style by the remaining prospitian forces.

I'm clearing this stuff first with people unrelated to my players because I don't really want to spoil things for them, but as this is the first time I've ran a game I'd like to have some advice. Thanks for the time.

For those that don't read Homestuck, the Dersites are the enemy faction in the game of Sburb, a black-carapaced, humanoid peoples that oppose the creation of a new universe that Sburb involves. They are not directly evil (for the most part), but are antagonistic to the players.

They are opposed by the Prospitians, white-carapaced folk who support the creation of the new universe, and are doomed to lose the war against the Dersites at some point; however, the early entry player in question swayed that much earlier than was intended, and the Dersites took over the battlefield on which their war played out, which is checkerboard-like, the warriors on the battlefield like chess pieces; from the lowly pawns, the carapacians themselves, to the stories-tall Knights, Bishops, and Rooks that join them in combat, even to the King and Queen of the planets of Derse and Prospit themselves.

Of course, the battles are not fought like a game of chess in the slightest, but most carapacians have rules of conduct they follow that are instinctual, though there are notable exceptions on both sides.

[Necroticplague]

Just my 2 cents of classpects:No matter what, since the base system wasn't built to accommodate them, they're going to involve a lot of work. However, there are varying levels depending on how big of the system you want the to be.

Small part:Just make them able to do something they already know slightly better. Make a list of classes and aspects, and have them each give an extra die roll to some skill. have the players pick one of each, be done.Knight might be +1 athletics, Life+1 medicine, so the knight of life rolls an extra die on athletics and and medicine rolls.

Larger part:Have their Mythological role take place of the option of joining a Legacy.In return, they gain a broader version of the normal benefit of legacy: Respite from paradox. They can cast spells within their classpects purview without having to worry about paradox punching them in the face.Have the players write up their interpretation of their classpect, it's not so important what it is as they fact they have to stick to it.