XPost: alt.magick.chaos   
      
   From: https://github.com/alt-magick/Mage-The-Ascension   
      
      
      
   Mage: The Ascension   
      
      
   Mage: The Ascension is a roleplaying game set in the World of Darkness,   
   a dark, gothic-punk alternative version of our own reality. In this   
   setting, magic is real but hidden from most people's perception. The   
   game revolves around mages - individuals who can reshape reality through   
   the power of will, belief, and understanding.   
      
   The Technocracy stands as a powerful organization seeking to control   
   reality through science, technology, and rational thought. They view   
   magic as a dangerous threat to human progress and work systematically to   
   suppress and eliminate supernatural elements.   
      
   The central conflict in Mage: The Ascension is the struggle over the   
   nature of reality itself. Mages fundamentally believe that reality is   
   malleable and can be shaped by human will and belief.   
      
   Roleplaying happens inside of scenes. In fact, the entire game exists in   
   scenes. The beauty of roleplaying a scene lies in its uncertainty.   
   Neither the players, or the Storyteller know exactly how the scene will   
   unfold.   
      
   A scene is a temporary collaborative reality. A shared imaginative space   
   where individual creativity merges into a collective experience.   
      
   Like most role playing games played around a table, we use dice to   
   determine the whims of chance. Anytime a character performs an action   
   under adverse conditions or when the outcome is unclear, his player   
   rolls dice to see whether the task succeeds or fails.   
      
   You just need two six sided dice to play. I have changed this from the   
   original game, Mage: The Ascension from rolling a ten sided dice. I did   
   a little math and it just made since.   
      
   For a success in this game, rolling a 7 or 11 with two 6 sided dice has   
   the odds of 2/9 which is 0.2222.   
      
   A typical success in Mage is made by rolling a 8, 9, or 10 on one 10   
   sided die, which has the odds of 3/10 which is 0.3.   
      
   So, with a few other modifications the game mechanics are basically the   
   same.   
      
      
   Attributes and Skills   
      
      
   Characters possess a variety of traits, describing their innate   
   capabilities, trained skills, and even how many wounds they can suffer   
   before dying. Two types of trait are especially important: Attributes   
   and Skills. Each of these traits is rated in dots (?), ranging from 1 to   
   5, much like the five-star system many critics use to rate movies. For   
   example, a character might have a Dexterity Attribute of ??? (3 dots)   
   and a Firearms Skill of ?? (2 dots).   
      
   Whenever your character performs an action that calls for dice rolls,   
   you most often add the most appropriate Attribute to the most   
   appropriate Skill. When your character shoots a gun, you add his   
   Dexterity to his Firearms for a total number of dice rolls.   
      
      
   Modifiers   
      
      
   Various conditions and circumstances can greatly improve or hinder your   
   characters tasks, represented by bonuses and/or penalties to your dice   
   rolls. On one hand, quality tools might give him a bonus to repair a   
   car. On the other hand, a thunderstorm might cause hazardous driving   
   conditions, levying a penalty on any driving rolls, and a distant target   
   is hard to hit with a gun, represented by range penalties.   
      
   For example, when shooting a target 30 yards away with his Glock 17   
   pistol, your character suffers a -2 penalty.   
      
   The Storyteller determines whether or not any circumstance imposes dice-   
   roll modifiers and how great those modifiers are.   
      
      
   Dice Rolls   
      
      
   So, we can say that that the number of times you get to roll the dice is   
   determined like so: Attribute + Skill + modifiers (if any) In general,   
   bonuses are always added before penalties are applied.   
      
      
   Rolling the Dice   
      
      
   Now that you know what to roll, lets see how to read the results. Each   
   roll uses two dice, and a result of 7, or 11 is considered a success.   
   You might have more than one of these, in which case you have multiple   
   successes. The dice don't just tell you whether your character succeeds   
   or fails it shows you how well he does. If none of your die rolls   
   succeed, your roll fails. Obviously, the more die rolls you have the   
   better your characters chances of success, and the greater your odds of   
   gaining multiple successes.   
      
      
   Snake Eyes   
      
      
   If one of your rolls turn up snake eyes, it cancels out one success. If   
   you roll snake eyes, and none of you other rolls succeed it is a botch.   
      
      
   Second Tries   
      
      
   When a roll fails, you can try again with a +1 difficulty modifier.   
      
      
   Fighting   
      
      
   Combat is a series of die rolls, until someone surrenders or is rendered   
   unable to fight. The rolls determine whether or not your character hits   
   and how much damage he inflicts on his target. The number of dice rolls   
   is determined as above, but a knife is more deadly than a fist, and a   
   gun is more deadly than all. Each success gained on your attack roll   
   represents a point of damage inflicted against the targets Health trait.   
   If the target has no more Health left, he is unconscious or dead   
   (depending on the type of damage done).   
      
   There are two types of damage: bashing (caused by blunt weapons such as   
   fists or clubs; these wounds heal quickly), lethal (caused by sharp   
   weapons such as knives and bullets; these wounds heal slowly). There are   
   a number of complications involved in combat, such as a targets Defense   
   Rolls, which are subtracted from any attack successes targeted against   
   him.   
      
      
   Actions   
      
      
   The number of times you roll for an action is made up of an attribute   
   added to an ability. Each of these are given a rating from 1 to five:   
      
      
   1) Poor   
      
   2) Average   
      
   3) Good   
      
   4) Exceptional   
      
   5) World Class   
      
      
   That dice pool is then modified by one of these levels:   
      
      
   +1) Easy   
      
   +0) Routine   
      
   -1) Moderate   
      
   -2) Difficult   
      
   -3) Challenging   
      
   -4) Hard   
      
   -5) Exceptional   
      
      
   The number of successes you have is also given a rating from one to   
   five:   
      
      
   1) Marginal   
      
   2) Moderate   
      
   3) Good   
      
   4) Excellent   
      
   5) Phenomenal   
      
      
   Traits   
      
      
   The attributes your character has are listed here, they are divided into   
   3 categories:   
      
      
   Physical:   
      
      
   Strength - Physical Power   
      
   Dexterity - Athleticism   
      
   Stamina - Toughness   
      
      
   Social:   
      
      
   Charisma - Charm   
      
   Manipulation - Persuasion   
      
   Appearance - Attractiveness   
      
      
   Mental:   
      
      
   Perception - Insight To Surroundings   
      
   Intelligence - Pure IQ   
      
   Wits - Intuition & Instincts   
      
      
   Abilities are also divided into 3 categories:   
      
      
   Talents:   
      
      
   Alertness - Attention to Your Surroundings   
      
   Athletics - A Talent With Sports   
      
   Awareness - You Can Sense The Presence of Magic   
      
   Brawl - Skill With Unarmed Combat   
      
   Dodge - Avoiding Physical Danger   
      
   Expression - The Art of Communication   
      
   Intimidation - Flexing Your Muscles   
      
   Leadership - You Are Respected   
      
   Streetwise - Youre a Part Of The Underworld   
      
   Subterfuge - You Can Hide Your Motives   
      
      
   Skills:   
      
      
   Crafts - Working With Your Hands   
      
   Drive - Handling The Road   
      
   Etiquette - Managing Social Situations   
      
   Firearms - Firing Guns   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)