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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks

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The Watch House


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MÉS INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD

RPGs and related matters, by Craig Oxbrow.

Friday, 1 September 2017 Links

30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks THE DOOR IN TIME - my


Doctor Who blog
RPG.net
30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks from titles by The Birthday Massacre
Onyx Path
I decided to try a list of story hooks for Mage: The Ascension as a tribute to Stewart Greater Good - daily clicks for
charity
Wieck.

I asked for suggestions online, and Bruce Baugh suggested some options including Search This Blog

The Birthday Massacre (which Faye Sutherland seconded). Thanks to all who Search
offered ideas!
Labels
To get a suitable number: the album title, the first and last track, and any singles.
This gave me thirty titles, including some curve balls for White Wolf references. A Buffy Season (56) Aberrant (24)
Actual Play (70) Adventure
(124) Aeon (34) Agents Of
I’ve never run a Mage chronicle, so this might be what one I run would look like. I
S.H.I.E.L.D. (59) animation (59)
think I came up with some interesting hooks, though maybe a few too many aimed
art (252) books (296) buffy
at a single mage rather than a cabal of multiple characters, and quite a few about
(288) Build A Setting (7)
covering up some mystical event before someone else does. I tried not to lean too
heavily on the Technocracy as enemies, so I have quite a few involving rivalries
campaign
with other cabals. development (406)
challenge (199) Chronicles
Of Darkness (85) comics
The Format (based on an original idea by Steve Dee) (328) Conpulsion (58)
Hook: the problem, weird occurrence or opening situation which causes the cabal to conventions (142) Doctor
get involved with events.
Who (111) events (602)
Problem: the full nature of what’s going on - what caused the hook to happen, and
what forces are aligned against the cabal.
fantasy (390) films
Complications: Elements which are either part of the problem or external events (464) genres (161) gming
which will make solving the problem not quite so straightforward as hitting the (306) history (438)
books or finding the killer. horror (419) icons (33)
Sub-Plots: These are a few lines on the character drama that could be wrung out of
the events described, so that each episode is more than just a mystery.
ideas (392) miniatures
Resolution: How to solve the mystery, kill the beast and finish the story. Usually
(94) music (63) Nationals oneshot
(38) Of Gods And Men (28) one-
some options are included to suit your players or allow for their creativity.
shots (32) Onyx Path (136)
Fun Stuff: This is just a list of some of the fun scenes or ideas the episode will let
other games (295) Pelgrane
you play around with, to inspire your imagination.
Press (22) playing (51) plots
Theme: Mage is always full of metaphor. This last section contains ideas on how (277) Primeval (44) RPGnet
the plot could be used as a reflection or life lesson for the cabal.
(132) rpgs (665) science
The Titles (100) sf (515) spies (83)
Nothing And Nowhere Star Trek (145) Star Wars
Happy Birthday (255) superheroes
The Dream (351) systems (13) the watch
Violet
The World
house (195)
Prologue
Blue
Of Darkness (406)
Nevermind Tolkien (31) toys (138) Trinity
Walking With Strangers (62)TV (474) urban
Kill The Lights fantasy (460) vampire
Red Stars (509) warhammer (61)
Looking Glass
Weird Level (473)
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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
Movie Followers

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Pins AndllocNeedles
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Seguidores (16) IP i el teu
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qualitat
Secret del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.
Hide And Seek MÉS INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD
Leaving Tonight
Down
One Promise
The Long Way Home
Night Shift
Superstition Seguir
Divide
Beyond
Blog Archive
Trinity
Imagica ►  2018 (443)
Under Your Spell ▼  2017 (508)
One ►  December (51)
Endless
►  November (44)
Show And Tell
►  October (44)

Filmography  ▼  September (48)


Ruby Sparks (The Dream) Need some SF concept art?
X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (Violet) Lazarus, Ringworld and
Dust Devil: Director’s Cut (Looking Glass) Snow Crash on TV
Predator II and The Peacemaker (Hide And Seek) Captain Scarlet
After Hours (Night Shift)
The Prisoner
Sliding Doors (Divide)
Groundhog Day (Endless) Mysterium
Buffy 2017 session 1
-- Star Trek: Discovery
V20: The Centre Cannot
Nothing And Nowhere Hold
Star Trek Adventures
Hook: Investigating a vortex of magical power, Quintessence, being pulled into an
abandoned house, one of the Cabal opens the attic door and finds a featureless grey Murray has crossed the
rainbow bridge
void beyond.
Problem: Cross the threshold and there’s an endless nothingness, with the door Destiny 2 art
hanging there. There seems to be a floor underfoot, but how far does that last? Happy birthday to my
Complications: From all other angles, and all other ways in, the attic is just an attic. brother, who GMed once
The door itself seems to be the source of the draining into the void. And what is it and th...
powering, and how much more power does it need? And is there anything living in Closure
the nothing? There And Back Again
Sub-Plots: And who else might have noticed?
Game on.
Resolution: Find a way to separate the door from the void, before the void does.
Fun Stuff: An endless space that shouldn’t be there, and all the ways to avoid Game on...?
getting lost in it. Cavaliers Of Mars
Theme: How do we deal with the infinite? The man who saved the
world
A plan, of sorts
Happy Birthday
The Hood Maker

Hook: One of the cabal has a birthday coming up... and some of their family want to GEAS 2017 introduction
make a big deal of it. Harry Dean Stanton
Problem: So they’re coming to town, right into the middle of a conflict between Miss Fisher And The Crypt
Tradition and Technocracy mages, an important celestial alignment, an attack by Of Tears
monsters from beyond, or something else that the cabal has to deal with right now. 2017-18 academic year game
Complications: The mage’s family are Sleepers, but liable to ask unfortunate plans
questions and to have high Willpower.
Changeling: The Dreaming
Sub-Plots: Naturally, some of the cabal’s enemies think this is a moment of 20th Anniversary Edition
weakness and time to strike.
Calla Cthulhu
Resolution: When a mage sets out to make time for mundane commitments, they
WFRP: A Humble Bundle
can literally make time to do so. Or maybe find a less magically drastic solution.
Of Perilous Adventure!
Fun Stuff: Oblivious Sleeper family. Very normal birthday celebrations contrasted
with high mystical weirdness. Call Of Cthulhu: Reign Of
Terror
Theme: We all come from somewhere.

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
Progress!
Aquest lloc fa servir galetes de Google per oferir els seus serveis i analitzar el trànsit. LaStrike
teva adreça IP i el teu
agent d'usuari es comparteixen amb Google, juntament amb mètriques de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
The Dream
qualitat del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.Len Wein
Hook: One of the cabal wakes from a dream ofMÉS meeting someone, knowing
INFORMACIÓ that she
D'ACORD Stephen King games
is real. Then the mage meets her the next day - and she recognizes the mage as well. Casting characters
Problem: Is she a fellow mage, a Sleeper with potential to Awaken, or something (Mad) Maximillian - Road
else? Is she actually part of a dream made real by the mage’s imagination? Warrior 1934!
Complications: The local Technocrats seem very interested in this new arrival.
Hurricane Harvey charity
Sub-Plots: Will other dreams come true? And how about nightmares? bundle
Resolution: Determine the truth of the dream, perhaps by venturing into it.
I hope to see Star Wars
Fun Stuff: Run with every musical reference to dreams, jokes about the mage’s Episode IX
“dream come true” and so on. Play with the character’s origin, keeping it a mystery
Guilds
for a while. Check out Ruby Sparks for an example of how your “dream lover”
could affect your waking life. Batman: The Animated
Series
Theme: How much can we affect our realities, consciously and unconsciously?
Rob Wieland on classic Star
Wars adventures

Violet The Queensferry Crossing


Burning Man 2017 photos
Hook: Attempting to perceive invisible spirits who have been troubling a local "Consider The
mystical Node, a mage adjusts their visible spectrum... and sees a different threat. Consequences!"
Problem: Something ancient and alien, that exists beyond our five senses, and The Carmilla Movie
knows that the mage has seen it.
What to GM, 2017 edition
Complications: Optionally, the mage is now also blind to the mundane world.
Temporarily or otherwise. 30 Mage: The Ascension
story hooks
Sub-Plots: The original poltergeists are also curious about the mage targeted by the
Unseen, and start bothering the cabal at their chantry. Harry Potter And The Game
of Roleplaying
Resolution: Find a different solution than X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes
escaping the oncoming thing by tearing his eyes out. Force Friday II
Fun Stuff: Fighting invisible entities, both minor and major. Destiny 2
Theme: How much is our reality defined by our perceptions?
►  August (52)
►  July (45)
Prologue ►  June (41)
►  May (43)
Hook: Chasing a rival mage in possession of an item the cabal sought for six
months, one of them rounds a corner... and is back on the day the conflict started. ►  April (34)
Problem: How did they get back here? Sent by the rival mage, unconsciously ►  March (34)
resetting the fight in order to win, or is something else at play here? ►  February (38)
Complications: None of the other members of the cabal seem to be affected – to
►  January (34)
them it’s six months earlier.
Sub-Plots: Is there something else the mage would like to change about the last few ►  2016 (493)
months? A dead friend they’d like to save...?
►  2015 (546)
Resolution: Confront the rival mage, also affected by the disruption, and find a
►  2014 (281)
better way to solve their current/future conflict.
Fun Stuff: The affected mage using future knowledge, the other players acting ►  2013 (419)
oblivious. ►  2012 (341)
Theme: What would you do if you could relive some of your past mistakes?
►  2011 (173)
►  2010 (28)
Blue
About Me
Hook: The invisible spirits from Violet return, seemingly more powerful, but now
intermittently visible to any mage’s senses.
Problem: They seem to have taken an interest in another mystical site, this one more
powerful, and contested between two rival factions.
Complications: As they start to influence the site, even Sleepers start to see them at
Craig Oxbrow
the limits of vision, and they attract more of the wrong kind of attention.
Sub-Plots: Worshippers of the Unseen also seek the poltergeists, hoping to draw View my complete profile
their master closer.
Resolution: Find some accord with the spirits.
Fun Stuff: Normally invisible monsters who aren’t used to being visible and aren’t
shy about being seen by Sleepers.
Theme: You can’t hide threats forever.

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Aquest lloc fa servir galetes de Google per oferir els seus serveis i analitzar el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
agent d'usuari es comparteixen amb Google, juntament amb mètriques de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
Nevermind
qualitat del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.
Hook: A lost recording by a 90s band spreads online decades after the D'ACORD
MÉS INFORMACIÓ singer’s
death, with lyrics that seem to relate to the present.
Problem: The singer was on the verge of Awakening when he died, and his
recordings have a prophetic power. And who released them now, and why?
Complications: A band made up of Ecstatic and Hollow One mages wants the
original recording for its mystical power.
Sub-Plots: Perhaps one of the mages loved the band in their youth, and seeing the
lost song become a hit brings back fond memories, connecting the mage with other
fans.
Resolution: Find the source of the song, and the reason it’s playing now... and what
the final verse refers to.
Fun Stuff: Mage bands, Sleeper souvenir hunters and more.
Theme: Art can affect us long after its creation.

Walking With Strangers

Hook: The mages have to travel to another chantry to research an occult mystery.
There they meet a cabal who should be allies...
Problem: ... who have their own secrets and agendas.
Complications: One of the cabal’s allies is considered a rival or enemy by this other
circle, who accuse her of theft, treason or madness.
Sub-Plots: One of the strangers takes an interest in one of the visiting mages,
perhaps as a potential student, or teacher.
Resolution: Find common ground, or find a way to obtain the research notes and
leave quietly.
Fun Stuff: Creating another cabal that the players should find strange and off-
putting.
Theme: Who can we really trust?

Kill The Lights

Hook: A Nephandus, a mage serving the forces of Oblivion, has learned a way to
cut his shadow loose and send it out to kill for him.
Problem: The shadow can attach itself to others, and is almost impossible to notice
in any lighting condition except direct sunlight. And it’s winter, when direct
sunlight isn’t exactly in abundance.
Complications: The shadow seems to target Sleepers at random, but there has to be
a pattern. What is the Nephandus mage’s goal, beyond chaos?
Sub-Plots: This happens while the mages are busy investigating a haunted house,
chasing vampires, helping a band put on a show, or something else that will have
them stuck in dimly-lit places all day.
Resolution: Kill the shadow, and what happens to the Nephandus?
Fun Stuff: Killer shadows!
Theme: The light and the dark are always there.

Red Stars

Hook: A decade ago, a red star appeared in the sky, taken as a warning of doom for
all the Awakened. After a lunar month, it vanished. Now there are two...
Problem: The signs point to a crucial mystical upheaval very soon – days, possibly
less.
Complications: Various supernatural beings start panicking about the End Times.
No-one is really sure what happened last time, but they certainly don’t want it to
happen again – let alone twice.
Sub-Plots: A star-watching party in the city park will also attract its share of Sleeper
astrologers and occultists, all looking for a sign.
Resolution: What do the stars portend? And can the cabal stop it?
Fun Stuff: Apocalypse panic, which can vary from the absurd to the horrific
depending on who’s panicking and what they’re prepared to do.

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
Theme: The big moments are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do
Aquest lloc that
afterwards fa servir
counts.galetes de Google
That's when you findper
outoferir els are.
who you seus serveis i analitzar el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
agent d'usuari es comparteixen amb Google, juntament amb mètriques de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
qualitat del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.
Looking Glass MÉS INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD

Hook: Investigating a missing mage’s house, one of the cabal finds a mirror in the
attic which is... wrong. The reflection is just a little out of step with reality. And
there seems to be a coat on the rack in the mirror which is not there in the real room.
Problem: Someone has escaped from the other side of the mirror. Unnatural, able to
move through mirrors, not quite a reflection of the missing mage. He has a face that
everyone will find familiar, but then realise it’s not who they think and shrug it off,
forgetting him as he passes.
Complications: The lost mage might be trapped on the other side. Do the cabal dare
to look?
Sub-Plots: Other people are looking for the lost mage – a lover, family and friends.
How will the reflection react to them?
Resolution: Rescue the trapped mage, bring the escaped reflection face to face with
him in the mirror and shatter it.
Fun Stuff: An enemy who can appear and disappear through reflections.
Theme: Some people can hide whatever they really feel. What is really past the
surface?

Movie

Hook: A lost 1920s silent film resurfaces – apparently a recording of an occult ritual
that led to a cult going extinct. How long until someone tries the ritual again?
Problem: The film is out of copyright – everyone involved was dead within a year
of filming and the company went bankrupt – so after an exclusive screening the
restorers plan to put it online.
Complications: And the film reel itself might be haunted by the ghost of the
director, or the thing that the ritual released.
Sub-Plots: Other mages point to its importance as a work of art and cultural artefact,
and will fight to defend it.
Resolution: Can you enter the space between images and prevent anything
escaping?
Fun Stuff: Optional flashbacks to decadent 1920s occultists. Or meeting their
ghosts.
Theme: The past is not so far away as it seems.

Pins And Needles

Hook: Technocracy agents target a mundane ‘occult’ shop, posing as health


inspectors with falsified charges about some of the store’s consumables. The real
target is a friend of the owner, a young witch with some real powers of sympathetic
magic.
Problem: She’s started teaching others, using her abilities in exchange for favours,
and otherwise attracting attention.
Complications: She has a few followers now, and the Technocrats would rather
eliminate all of them than take any chances with loose ends. Their forecasting
suggests it’s just a matter of time before someone sticks a pin in an effigy’s heart
and gives a corrupt politician a heart attack.
Sub-Plots: One of the cabal is having trouble with Sleeper acquaintances. It would
be so easy to show them what they can really do...
Resolution: Talk her down, possibly under fire from Technocracy agents.
Fun Stuff: A chance to let loose with vulgar magic where no-one around counts as a
witness.
Theme: With great power... you know this one, right?

In The Dark

Hook: The news reports murders with bloodless bodies showing bite marks on their
necks. Is there a vampire in the city? Actually there are several, but they don’t want

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
to be on the news either.
Aquest
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fa killer
servirisgaletes
a rogue, de
or aGoogle
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rival vampire serveis
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locals el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
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are worried, andeswhen
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vampires areamb Google,
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humans amb
are used for mètriques
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Complications: The generar
rogue seesestadístiques d'ús with
the mages meeting i detectar
a localivampire,
solucionar
and els usos inadequats.
takes
an interest in them, and their Sleeper friends. MÉS INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD
Sub-Plots: One of the vampires hates his condition, and wonders if magic might
offer a cure.
Resolution: Find the rogue before she declares open war on every other vampire in
the city.
Fun Stuff: Working with vampires. Hanging out in dark and dingy nightclubs,
tiptoeing around their egos, and trying not to get drawn into their schemes.
Theme: The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily someone I want to invite over to
hang out.

Secret

Hook: Can you tell your love what you are? Do you share the magic in your life
with them? How could you deny them that?
Problem: One of the mages faces this dilemma, with a lover, a family member or a
close friend.
Complications: This would be the perfect time for an enemy to move against the
mage.
Sub-Plots: How do the rest of the cabal keep the secret? Who have they lost because
of it?
Resolution: Tell them, or lose them. Perhaps both.
Fun Stuff: Down-to-earth human problems.
Theme: Secrets have a way of coming out.

Hide And Seek

Hook: Who stole the 17th Century grimoire from the display case in the chantry? Is
there really an invisible thief at large?
Problem: A rival mage, currently invisible due to either a mystical breakthrough or
a Paradox backlash. Perhaps both. She’s searching for a way to undo the effect and
replicate it reliably.
Complications: A Technocracy amalgam hunts for her, because invisibility would
be useful.
Sub-Plots: Someone is ducking one of the mages, avoiding their calls, making them
feel invisible too.
Resolution: Find a way to help her, or at least catch her. This may involve the cabal
readjusting their senses. And hopefully not attracting the attention of the Unseen
Thing again.
Fun Stuff: Catching someone invisible. Technocracy agents with light-up infrared
goggles and laser sights like postmodern Nazgul.
Theme: Everybody’s problems seem terrible from their point of view. Can you see
their side?

Leaving Tonight

Hook: Someone you love now knows that you are a mage, and cannot forgive you
for hiding it for so long.
Problem: Now they know the secret, a mage’s loved one decides to leave. Can they
be persuaded to stay?
Complications: The loved one’s circle take their side, and now the loved one has to
lie to them and keep the secret as well, adding to their resentment.
Sub-Plots: Perhaps the loved one confides in a mutual friend – one of the other
members of the cabal.
Resolution: Try to provide and find some closure, or a way to communicate.
Fun Stuff: Emotional pain and drama. What, that’s not fun?
Theme: No matter who you are and what you can do, love can affect you.

Down

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks

Aquest
Hook: Howlloc fa servir
does galetes
a mage de Google
deal with a brokenper oferir
heart? els seus
In most cases,serveis
not well.i analitzar el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
agent d'usuari
Problem: A bades comparteixen
break-up, amb
a death or some Google, juntament
other loss ambas
leaves a mage mètriques
vulnerablede as rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
qualitat del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar
anyone – with the additional problem of it affecting their magic. Rote spells go els usos inadequats.
awry, and emotional outbursts have unintendedMÉS magical effects. The pathetic
INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD fallacy
doesn’t quite work if it really does start to rain whenever a broken-hearted mage
steps outside.
Complications: This kind of display means Technocrats and other rival mages trying
to kill the mage. So the cabal have to protect the mage and clean up the mess.
Sub-Plots: Seeing a fellow mage so distraught should make everyone reassess their
own emotional wellbeing.
Resolution: This will lessen with time and reflection. You just have to get there...
Fun Stuff: Accidental magic turning reality into a Gothic romance.
Theme: How much can you help someone in need?

One Promise

Hook: At their Awakening, a mage swore to aid their mentor in time of need. That
time has come.
Problem: ... And it’s a problem they’re not that well equipped to deal with. A
warrior is asked to help keep their sensei’s dojo in business, a pacifist to help run off
a gang threatening the mentor’s family.
Complications: The mentor has a number of enemies looking for a sign of
weakness, and this certainly qualifies. And they’re the kind of enemy the mage isn’t
best at opposing either.
Sub-Plots: The mentor’s life has moved on as well as the student’s. Perhaps she has
a family, or a new student who might one day challenge the mage.
Resolution: Find a way to fulfil the promise in your own way.
Fun Stuff: A look at a mage’s origins, which may well be surprising to the rest of
the cabal.
Theme: We all have our obligations.

The Long Way Home

Hook: A Seeking requires a pilgrimage to a distant chantry to consult with an oracle


– and returning without using any magic.
Problem: The chantry is a long way away, in a remote area, and getting back
involves going through wilderness and hostile borders.
Complications: An enemy of the mage somehow hears of the geas part of the
Seeking, the perfect chance to strike.
Sub-Plots: On the way, the mage will meet helpful people, who could easily be
repaid through magical means.
Resolution: Make it home, whether by trickery or determination.
Fun Stuff: Mages far outside their comfort zone. Fighting enemies without magic.
Theme: How well can you adapt?

Night Shift

Hook: Ever have one of those nights where everything goes wrong? You miss a
party, go to the wrong club, lose your wallet, hit a door and break your nose? At
least mages can blame Paradox spirits.
Problem: Everyone and everything seems hostile. You can’t get a taxi, your phone
was in your other jacket, someone just accused you of hitting on their date, and
when you move onto the dancefloor to avoid them you step on somebody’s foot,
and that somebody’s a vampire.
Complications: Whatever the mage tries, no matter how simple, backfires. Did
someone curse them?
Sub-Plots: Being in trouble all night, the mage will meet people who live like this
every night.
Resolution: It’s just a few hours to dawn. Everything will go back to normal then.
Right?
Fun Stuff: Alone in the city after hours.

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
Theme: Civilisation is a thinner veneer than we like to think.
Aquest lloc fa servir galetes de Google per oferir els seus serveis i analitzar el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
agent d'usuari es comparteixen amb Google, juntament amb mètriques de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
qualitat del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.
Superstition
MÉS INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD
Hook: A black cat crosses the cabal’s path as they leave the chantry. Something
peculiar happens to each of them almost immediately. One finds fresh milk in their
coffee has turned sour, another gets electric shocks from everything with any
charge...
Problem: It would appear that someone or something has placed a hex on them.
Complications: The power seems to be spreading, causing all kinds of increasingly
strange events around them. How long before they can’t step on a crack without
being attacked by bears?
Sub-Plots: They also hear about similar things happening to strangers, although
these are all good news. Is something balancing out the good and ill effects?
Resolution: Best the rival witch through means within their paradigm.
Fun Stuff: Black cats, walking under ladders, the number thirteen...
Theme: How much do ancient beliefs affect us to this day?

Divide

Hook: Unable to decide on a course of action, a mage splits in two and follows both
options.
Problem: Now the original and pocket realities are starting to come apart, and
events from one appear as hallucinations in the other, and then apparitions that can
be touched, and then flashes of the other reality...
Complications: The reality division attracts the attention of wandering Paradox
spirits.
Sub-Plots: How do you explain to your other side’s lover that you didn’t meet them
weeks ago?
Resolution: Unify the realities or snap them apart completely... and hope that
doesn’t come back to haunt you.
Fun Stuff: Sliding Doors style crossing realities starting to overlap.
Theme: Every action has consequences.

Beyond

Hook: A mage’s mentor returns from the dead. The mage buried her a month ago,
but here she is, apparently hale and hearty, and there’s an empty grave where she
should be...
Problem: She claims to know nothing of the time she was away, but she seems very
suspicious of another old mage she previously thought of as a friend.
Complications: Mages with a grasp of the Sphere of Entropy are decidedly
uncomfortable around the mentor. Anyone who can sense ghosts find they shy away
from her as well.
Sub-Plots: Someone else who has recently lost a loved one would surely wonder
how the mentor returned.
Resolution: Resolve what she returned to do. Does she then go back to her grave, or
does she remain alive and the aftereffects fade?
Fun Stuff: Resurrection, real or feigned amnesia, ghosts.
Theme: What would we do with a little extra time?

Trinity

Hook: Three children are about to be born with flawless Dynamic, Pattern and
Primordial Avatars. These ‘imaginary friends’ will protect them through childhood,
and in time they will become powerful mages.
Problem: The portents all point to each of them becoming dangerously single-
minded, each of them falling to become a Marauder, Pattern spirit and Nephandus.
But this is years away, and surely there’s a way to prevent it...?
Complications: The agents of the three ways to fall each seek to eliminate the other
two children.

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
Sub-Plots: Someone abducts other children born on the same night.
Aquest lloc fa
Resolution: servir
Find a waygaletes
to hide de Google
them, watchper
overoferir
them...elsand
seus serveis
is there i analitzar
a fourth child el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
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Questinges comparteixen
Avatar amb
who can bring Google,
them juntament
together ambcabal?
as a balanced mètriques de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
qualitat delThree
Fun Stuff: servei, generar
potential estadístiques
AntiChrists who alld'ús
needi protecting.
detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.
Theme: How much are we defined by nature versus MÉS nurture?
INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD

Imagica

Hook: Business is booming for the occult shop from Pins And Needles - it just
opened a second branch.
Problem: It looks like one of the witch’s followers is selling herbal remedies on the
side, which have a lot more effect than mundane ones.
Complications: Once word gets around and queues start forming, a lot of unhappy
mystical types will want to hush it up, and they won’t all care about collateral
damage.
Sub-Plots: The herbal hedge witch puts a large portion of the proceeds to good
causes, in case the cabal don’t feel guilty enough about stepping in.
Resolution: Persuade the hedge witch to go for a more exclusive clientele.
Fun Stuff: Over-the-counter miracle cures that actually work.
Theme: With great powers comes great headaches. Look at everything you could do
with no-one to stop you...

Under Your Spell

Hook: Love spells are a bad idea. But they’re a bad idea that people keep on trying.
Problem: Someone is acting out of sorts, seemingly under the influence and
distancing from normal connections - maybe it’s the loved one of a member of the
cabal, maybe it’s a celebrity on the city’s ‘most eligible’ list. (If the mages are self-
absorbed enough, maybe it’ll take multiple someones before they notice.)
Complications: The spellcaster may have been dumb enough to try this, but they’re
smart enough to cover their tracks. Or maybe the object of the spell’s affections
isn’t the person who cast it? Would the mages believe such a denial?
Sub-Plots: Someone in the mages’ circle is heartbroken. Coincidence, or...?
Resolution: There’s a counterspell, which probably involves something
embarrassing with nudity and raven feathers.
Fun Stuff: Love makes you do the wacky.
Theme: How do you use your emotional influence?

One

Hook: In a small, poorly-attended church in a poor neighborhood, a miracle just


happened. God visited the Wednesday midnight mass and gave the congregation a
holy mission.
Problem: A small but very determined group of people with a holy mission. The
kind of mission that sends them into danger. Someone has to help them, or stop
them. And there will be plenty trying to stop them. Their mission isn’t necessarily
bad, just potentially dangerous to themselves and others.
Complications:
Sub-Plots: Word spreads and the church attracts believers, debunkers, jealous
representatives of other religious groups and more.
Resolution: Find out how to end this peacefully. This may involve speaking to (one
or more) God.
Fun Stuff: Signs and wonders!
Theme: What would you do if you were certain it was right? What would you do for
the chance to be certain?

Endless

Hook: The cabal go to sleep one night, and wake up the previous morning. It
doesn’t take long to realize they’re stuck in a time loop.
Problem: As mages, the list of suspects they know that could be responsible for this

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9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks
is pretty long.
Aquest lloc fa servir
Complications: Their galetes de Google
Paradox levels per oferir
don’t reset els day,
with each seussoserveis
the morei analitzar
they try el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
agent d'usuari
to magic es comparteixen
their way amb
out of the problem theGoogle, juntament
more likely amb
they are to get mètriques
a backlash. de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
qualitat del One
Sub-Plots: servei, generar
of them had a estadístiques d'ús
great day and will i detectar
want i solucionar
to keep as els usos inadequats.
much of it as
possible through every retread. Or one had a terrible day and will wantD'ACORD
MÉS INFORMACIÓ to change it
extensively.
Resolution: Find out who’s responsible and fix their problem. This might involve a
thorough search of the city, a lot of confused contacts, and several total party kills.
Fun Stuff: It’s Groundhog Day. Again. It’s one of the classic genre plots, players
often get a kick out of doing their version of these.
Theme: Did you use today as well as you could?

Show And Tell

Hook: A powerful mage (a master of one Sphere and expert in others) with
connections to the chantry has announced a visit to see the cabal’s progress.
Problem: This is both a great opportunity to learn and a great opportunity to be
undermined by rivals for whom it is also a great opportunity to learn.
Complications: The master has a pet project that some of the cabal’s knowledge
could help with. Accessing shard realities, fighting the Unseen Thing... something
they’ll be wary of touching again.
Sub-Plots: One of the mages might have an academic or business hurdle to jump in
their mundane life. Coincidence? Sure...
Resolution: Show what you’ve learned in these past adventures, and that you’re
ready for more.
Fun Stuff: Entertaining stuffy and grandiose old wizards.
Theme: We can all learn something from those who came before us, or those around
us.

--

Alternative ideas

The Secret: A dying enemy shares a final secret with a mage - that there’s a traitor
in the most respected cabal in the city.

The Long Way Home: Chasing a mischievous spirit, the mages turn a corner, step
into a sudden fog, and find themselves on another continent.

Night Shift: Investigating a disappearance in the city underground, the mages find
themselves facing a cabal of squatter Orphans who resent the intrusion on their turf.

Divide: An allied cabal has gone silent. Investigating, the mages find they have
gone to war against a mutual rival. It was usually a cold war - not any more. Both
groups are on the run, each having lost several members to ‘accidents’ that are
clearly coincidental magic attacks. And each side is calling in allies, who are even
less restrained.

Posted by Craig Oxbrow at 23:57

Labels: ideas, plots, The World Of Darkness, urban fantasy, Weird Level

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http://thewatchhouserpg.blogspot.com/2017/09/30-mage-ascension-story-hooks.html 10/11
9/12/2018 The Watch House: 30 Mage: The Ascension story hooks

Aquest lloc fa
Enter servir
your galetes de Google per oferir els seus serveis i analitzar el trànsit. La teva adreça IP i el teu
comment...
agent d'usuari es comparteixen amb Google, juntament amb mètriques de rendiment i seguretat, per garantir la
qualitat del servei, generar estadístiques d'ús i detectar i solucionar els usos inadequats.
MÉS INFORMACIÓ D'ACORD
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