Indre

It's been discussed in various threads about the possibility of actually creating a fan project to bring Mage: The Ascension fully into the NWoD, replacing Mage: The Awakening's Atlantis mythology with Ascension's history and Ascension War. I'd like to discuss here the possibility of organizing a project to perform this translation, so that Mage: The Ascension can be played in the NWoD on it's own, or alongside of NWoD games like Vampire: The Requiem, Hunter: The Vigil, Changeling: The Lost, and other NWoD game lines.

I have these suggested project and design goals in mind - [*]Impact other NWoD lines as little as possible - if Ascension Nova is used other NWoD lines, then said lines should be playable as is.[*]Baby and the Bathwater - retain as many of the mechanical innovations of Mage: The Awakening while removing the setting elements related to the Atlantis Mythology[*]Cosmology - Ascension Nova must fit to the pre-existing NWOD cosmology as much as possible, not the other way around. This will enable players to make use of the excellent cosmology supplements for Mage and other game lines, such as Intruders, Astral Realms and the various spirit supplements for Werewolf: The Forsaken.[*]Integration - Ascension Nova must integrate smoothly into pre-existing generic NWoD supplements, such as the book on Hedge Magic, the generic monster books, and so forth.[*]Priority - Even though Ascension Nova will retain the Ascension War and Subjective Reality of OWoD Ascension, this must not be allowed to "trump" the functioning of other template based supernaturals. Ascension Nova must take the same co-equal place that standard Awakening does in standard NWoD. In respect to this, as much as the Awakening rules set should be kept as possible.[/list]In terms of design goals for Ascension Nova and how different from OWoD Mage it will end up being, I have these ideas in mind - [*]Removal of all elements from the Ascension backstory that involve crossovers with OWoD game lines - this includes stripping out all reference to OWerewolf cosmology, replacing this with NWoD structures(The Metaphysic Trinity, Umbra mechanics, etc), and in-setting specific groups (such as Clan Tremere.) Elements can of course be adjusted if they are cool and fun enough.[*]A thorough examination of how subjective reality can possibly impact the NWOD setting[*]A strong emphasis on the Ascension War, in regards to a war being fought in the Tenemos of Astral Realms as well as on physical Earth, to determine the shape of the world, including local, regional and global mechanics that adress actual reality change[*]An emphasis on thematic and mechanical simplicity[/list]So, in regards to the actual project itself, I'd like to see a fan team of between 5 and 10 writers, with a 3 person design junta who act as an executive, be responsible for editorial and keep the project organized and moving. I'd like to see a private Wiki set up, a set of initial sessions over chat that would create an initial outline, assignments writing projects and engage in the vigorous theme and metaphysics debates that always accompany Mage.

The end result would ideally be a free 100-150 page PDF document distributed under a GNU license or similar, with an eye towards making sure that White Wolf's intellectual property is protected, in the manner of derivative fan created works.

I'll probably be setting up the Wiki myself, and take the lead in doing the initial set up work, if I find a level of interest to make it worth while.

CB