Have you seen the Yellow Sign? (Mage: the Awakening 2e, LGBTQ+ friendly)

[TheKhan]

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
and strange moons circle through the skies,
but stranger still is
lost Carcosa.
- Cassilda’s Song, The King in Yellow

Los Angeles, Modern Day
Something stirs in the City of Angels. You smell it in the earth. You feel it in the water. You taste in the air. These are not vague hunches, they are the omnipresent mysteries that swirl through your sight beyond sight.

You are a Mage. You have Awakened and seen the Watchtowers, and now you are addicted to mysteries. Reality itself bends at your command, but you can’t settle for being a god amongst humanity. Working out of Hollywood, you are driven to unearth mystery after mystery. Now you have a new one.

Arson isn’t common in Hollywood, especially not since Harry Burkhart’s spree in 2011 and 2012, so a library burning down tends to get people’s attention. It especially catches the of LA’s Assembly, since the library contained several hidden grimoires and should have been protected against random acts of violence. They are convinced this was intentional and have sent your cabal to investigate. Now it is up to you to determine if the arson was the work of Seers, LA’s Consilium, a Nameless Order, or something worse.

What will you do? Will you give in to the immense power at your fingertips? Will you attain enlightenment through your knowledge and might? Will you fall to hubris or get swept up the decadence that surrounds you? One thing is certain. You will solve this mystery, simply because uncovering secrets is your nature.

Have you seen the Yellow Sign?



Character Creation
System: Mage: the Awakening Second Edition

Books: Anything from the Chronicles of Darkness gameline (aka New World of Darkness 2e). Mage 2e is a must and this would be a chance to play with Signs of Sorcery (which comes out tomorrow!) as well.
Experience: Since PbP tends to go slow, we will start a little more powerful. You each get 5 additional Experiences to spend at character creation in any way you see fit.
Aspirations: Also to combat the slowness of PbP, you will have an additional short term Aspiration. That gives a total of three short term and one long term.
Orders: You are part of Los Angeles’ Assembly, although this Assembly is a bit strange in that it contains all five Pentacle Orders. You can be part of any of these Orders. No Seers of the Throne (to start at least).

Setting: Los Angeles, as detailed in Chapter 6 of MtAw 2e.
Background: Doesn’t need to be extensive, but it should include your Awakening, how you joined your Order, and how you came to LA.
Mentor: Please give a brief description of the person who mentored you in the supernatural after your Awakening. This is probably a Mage but doesn’t strictly have to be.
Age: 21+, no exceptions.

Personality: Your character needs to be trusting enough to work with others without trying to screw them over. Keeping a game cohesive on the boards is hard enough with characters getting sarcastic with one another.
Appearance: As you please, although a picture is required so that I can use it on maps, although it doesn’t have to be a perfect representation of your character.
Nimbus: Nothing special year, just don’t forget to build your Nimbus Tilt and please give me a description of what other Mages will perceive through their Sight.



Expectations
Regular Posting: Shit happens, so I try not to be a tyrant about post rates, but please commit to posting twice a week. A number of my games a stalled out recently simply because people stopped interacting. I will do everything I can to prevent that from my end, but I believe it will help if you can commit to all least twice weekly. If extenuating circumstances make that untenable once the game is underway, talk to me and we’ll work something out, just please don’t vanish with no notice.

Also, Mage is a game about investigation and I expect there will be a lot of it in this chronicle. Please make sure that is your jam and you’ll be willing to take initiative when searching for clues.

Cooperative Play: Basically, don’t be a dick. Don’t troll other people or start fights. We are all here to have fun. Me having to play peacekeeper is anti-fun.

Open-Mindedness: This game is open to all orientations and genders. I’m a cis-het male, so I can’t promise I’ll get everything right, but I’m always open to talking and learning more. I just ask everyone to bring that open-mindedness.

Communication: Talk to me (and each other). Let me know what you’d like to see/experience. If there is something you’d like to see or is killing your buzz, let me know. If something uncomfortable comes up and you need the scene to end, please tell me.

Rating
This I will leave up to the players once we begin the game. I will stick this game in Exotic just in case we encounter Werewolves or the Unchained or the like. Otherwise, it will either be Bondage or Extreme. The former is doable, but personally, I would lean towards the latter since this game does have Mythos undercurrents and the potential for body horror. And I learn toward Extreme for horror games anyhow since I’d rather not accidentally traumatize anyone.

Regardless of the specific rating, two things are in effect. First, we will utilize the X-card in this game. If some interesting makes you uncomfortable, you can PM me at any time to end the scene, no questions asked. Second, there will be non-con under any circumstances. It makes me extremely uncomfortable and will not be featured.



FYIs

• I try to post frequently and give enough detail for players to respond to, but I am aware that I generally write less than other GMs. I’m being open and front about this so that everyone knows that this is a product of how slow I compose rather than a lack of interest on the GM’s side. On my side, I’m going to try to combat those shorter posts by using speech to text software more frequently with this game. I’m also on E! To improve my writing, so I’m totally open to suggestions.
• Non-con and anything involving teenagers are very, very hard limits for me.

FAQ
I know nothing about Mage or Chronicles of Darkness! Can I join?
Abso-freakin-lutely!

The Yellow Sign is part of the Cthulhu Mythos. How much of the Mythos is present in this game?
Not much. I’m planning on staying pretty squarely focused on the King in Yellow and Carcosa since they can enter Mage’s cosmology without much fuss. Big C will definitely not be showing up.

Can more than one character be tied to the same mentor?
For sure! Just make sure the person who came up with the mentor is cool with it first.

Inspiration
This is not a comprehensive list of works I’m drawing on for inspiration, but this does give an idea of where my head is at.

The King in Yellow
Sandman
True Detective
Pathfinder: Strange Aeons
Hecatomb
Watchmen
Sin City
Hellraiser
Inception
Dark City
Cabin in the Woods
Angel

The Application
Players: 3-5 players, as selected by me.
What You Need: A character sheet that’s at least 90% done, including pictures, aspirations, and background. The latter does not need to be super extensive, however.
When you need it by: I will be picking characters on July 3.

[Kit]

Greetings TheKan ! (I usually put "The" before my username because the lather has already been picked, is that the reason of this username ?)

I am interested but of course that's not enough, plus I never did Mage or Chronicles of Darkness.

[TheKhan]

Greetings TheKan ! (I usually put "The" before my username because the lather has already been picked, is that the reason of this username ?)

I am interested but of course that's not enough, plus I never did Mage or Chronicles of Darkness.

I actually don't remember at this point. It has been a while. I think both my usual Khans were taken.