
The mage will typically snap, automatically solving whatever problem she was currently facing with some overwhelmingly vulgar magic (that somehow avoids Paradox), and then leave the scene to cause mad havoc across the city for a while until finally calming down (and dropping all non-permanent Resonance dice). See the Mage rules for what is available at each Sphere level (Spheres are not simplified over regular Mage to make magical advancement a major element of long term play).Ī mage that must take on more than six Resonance dice instead enters Quiet. Virtual Adepts: Hacking (any interaction with, mediated by, or greatly assisted by a computer system)Īdditionally, each mage has at least one Hobby which is a more limited Skill that is specific to the character’s background (effectively, any one skill off the normal Mage skill lists).Īll mages have ratings in Spheres (Correspondence, Entropy, Forces, Life, Mind, Matter, Prime, Spirit, Time) which define what kind of effects they can produce.Verbena: Myth (any interaction with bygone beasts or physical supernatural beings like vampires, werewolves, and fae).Sons of Ether: Science! (making or understanding most things relevant to physics, chemistry, biology, etc.).Order of Hermes: Knowledge (ritualized magic, book learning and research, and dealing with spiritual or supernatural politics).Euthanatos: Death (stealth, guns, and any combat where killing the opponent is a primary goal).Dreamspeakers: Wisdom (any interaction with spirits and surviving in and navigating in the wilderness or Umbra).Cult of Ecstasy: Cool (any interaction about knowing useful people, getting by via being interesting, or playing music).Celestial Chorus: Song (any voice-based interaction, including intimidation, negotiation, commands, etc.).Akashic Brotherhood: Do (acrobatics, meditation, and combat involving martial arts or melee weapons).The Skill works identically to the Exhaustion talent in DRYH, setting success to a minimum of Resonance and allowing the player to take on an additional die of Resonance to instead add total Resonance as bonus successes. If Vulgarity dominates, the mage suffers Paradox as described below.Įach mage has a Tradition, with an associated Skill.

GMs should attempt to come up with a way for any effect to work as coincidental if the player wants it to for example, a coincidental teleportation may somehow arrange for an available taxi cab and clear traffic (though going vulgar would obviously be faster). Thus, the more vulgar the effect, the more Vulgarity dice can be added (up to six). The more vulgar the effect, the more power the mage can usually unleash.


Familiarity with both DRYH and Mage will probably make this make more sense. You could probably run Mage: the Awakening with it by changing a few trait names and groups. This is Mage: the Ascension converted to Don’t Rest Your Head, as inspired by Fred’s recent post about hacking DRYH.
