Day by Night This somewhat focused story is one I've run before, both as a standalone, and as an intro to a wider world. It's always weird and fun. PCs are pretty close to beginning Magi though there's a little wiggle room here. Play begins with a focus on their mundane "cover" lives, but as we progress the lines between the mundane and the awakened become increasingly blurred. It won't take long for players to realize my main inspiration for this one. When the story ends, it opens the door to further play. This is the one which most easily accepts new player once play has begun. Light a Single Candle The Ascension War is over. The Technocracy rules a static reality, while other Awakened eke out livings from the shadows and forgotten corners. The world is dark, oppressive, filled with a people who've given up, but don't even realize it. But reality hasn't given up. You just might hold the key to secrets which can help bring the spark of awakening back to the world. In this game, once the full story is known, your characters get the agency to pursue the goal however they see fit. Never & Always Similar in several ways to the above, the main difference here is in how the tale unfolds. In a series of scenes which shift freely between "Now" and "A Thousand Days Past," PCs learn the hidden truths of the world, and then decide what do do with that knowledge. Character creation is a series of choices, questions I ask to which players either agree to answers, or take turns answering. Those questions answered, and with nothing more of your sheet filled in than your character's name, we begin play. The rest of your character is a puzzle we put together in play, a piece at a time. It requires players who are willing to roll a bit with vague details which we reveal a bit at a time in the flashbacks. But the last group to play in it told me it was the best Mage game they'd ever played. Because character creation is guided a piece at a time, it's also a good way to play Mage if you have little or no experience with character creation. This is also the option that locks the number of players right at the beginning.
