1 - Gazing into You - Gloria Mundi.pdf - World of Darkness - FatumTech

Written by Matthew McFarland. Cover art by Mike Kaluta. Playtesters:

Matt Karafa, Jeffrey Kreider, Matthew McFarland, Keith McMillin, Fred

Martin-Shultz, Dawn Wiatrowski

or reposting without the written permission of the publisher is expressly

forbidden, except for the downloading of one copy for personal use from

www.white-wolf.com. White Wolf and World of Darkness are registered

trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Mage the Awakening,

Storytelling System, Gloria Mundi, and Gazing into You are trademarks

places, and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.

The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is

not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned.

This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters, and themes.

All mystical and supernatural elements are ﬁ ction and intended for

entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader

discretion is advised.

For a free White Wolf catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF.

Check out White Wolf online at

http://www.white-wolf.com

PRINTED IN CANADA

T O W AKE

F ROM D REAMING …

The sea of time grows murky as one ap-

proaches the distant past. Ruins, artifacts, cave

paintings—all this evidence of history tells an

incomplete tale. Most people never realize that

they don’t know the whole truth, but some can

see that there is more to learn. Those who do,

and who know where to look, eventually discover

a legend of a fallen civilization and a war for the

throne of reality. The names for that civilization

are many, most of them lost over the years, but

even patchwork recorded history remembers one

of them: Atlantis.

Humanity found that mythical place eons ago,

led by dreams more real than their waking sight.

There they learned to see beyond this world to

the Supernal Realms, and what they discovered

in those places set their very souls aglow. By the

power of their thoughts, they learned how to

make what was real in the Supernal Realms real

in this world—to make the impossible possible.

What once could be done only in dreams was

now achievable in the waking world. Indeed,

it seemed only those most enlightened souls

were truly Awake, while everyone else was but

a Sleeper, sharing the same dream.

The Awakened built a glorious civilization

on their sacred island, dividing themselves into

specialized orders of governance and working

together to unravel the Mysteries of the higher

realms. Yet the power they uncovered in un-

raveling these mysteries soon outstripped their

wisdom, and they committed a great crime of

hubris. Seeking to abandon the dreaming world

altogether, they constructed a grand celestial

ladder to carry them to the Supernal Realms,

where they overturned the thrones of the gods

and usurped their places. They sought to control

all reality with their thoughts alone, yet Creation

trembled at their every unwise whim. There was

no choice but to cast them down, lest all of reality

be corrupted and sundered. Those Awakened

still left in our world climbed the celestial lad-

der themselves and made wizard-war on their

erstwhile brethren, shaking all of Creation. In

the end, the very ladder itself was shattered and

our world fell away from the Supernal Realms,

leaving only an impassable gulf of unreality

known as the Abyss between them.

Yet though the Fallen World was cursed to

fall deeper into Sleep, there are those still who

Awaken. Deep in the Supernal Realms stand

cyclopean watchtowers that even today call brave,

enlightened souls across the treacherous Abyss.

Should a soul survive this journey and carve its

name on one of these watchtowers, that Sleeper

Awakens and inherits humanity’s forgotten

legacy: magic. When he does, it’s up to him to

ﬁ nd those others like himself who have broken

free from humanity’s shared dream and try once

again to ﬁ nd the truths behind the Mysteries of

Creation. And should they uncover the linger-

ing fragments of lore about lost, fabled Atlantis,

mages must decide whether to re-create the

enlightened civilization those earliest dreamers

forged or build something even better, founded

on the highest ideals of this Fallen World.

You’ve had the sense at some point in your

life that there is more to this world than you

can see. You’ve always known that sinister truths

hide behind a façade of normality, veiled by the

rational, orderly “natural laws” we call science.

When night falls, as the shadows grow long and

the wind whistles through the trees, you shud-

der and remember the truths of your ancestors,

who were right to fear the dark. In those times,

you realize just how alone and ignorant you’ve

always been. You feel this way because you’ve

just entered the World of Darkness, where the

shadows hide unimaginable secrets.

In Mage: The Awakening , the third World

of Darkness Storytelling game, you and your

friends tell stories set in this world, in which you

reveal these secrets and unravel the Mysteries of

Creation. Those who do so successfully Awaken

to the greatest mystery of all—that the rules of

reality are not as hard and fast as everyone thinks.

By forging mystical paths to realms beyond the

material world, the Awakened (known as wiz-

ards, sorcerers, and mages) can impose the laws

of those higher realms on this world. Doing so,

they can shed light on what hides in the World

of Darkness and work great wonders tempered

only by their wisdom.

Yet for all their power and insight, the Awak-

ened are still human, subject to the same failings

and shortsightedness all humanity suffers. They

must temper their wonders with wisdom, lest

the friction between opposing laws of disparate

realities cause an uncontrollable Paradox. Nor

can they cavalierly expose the secrets their

Awakenings reveal to them. Some secrets are

hidden from Sleeping humanity for good rea-

sons, and it is only the proud, foolish mage who

casts into the light those things best exiled to

shadow. What’s more, a mage does well to keep

his pride in check, as pride goeth before a fall.

There’s always another mage out there with just

a bit more power or who knows just a little more

about what’s hidden in the darkness…

describing the world to the other players, acting

out the parts of other characters, and determin-

ing what challenges the players’ characters face.

Players roll dice to determine if their characters

can overcome the challenges before them. In

a typical exchange, the Storyteller describes

the scene in which the players’ characters ﬁ nd

themselves. (“You see ﬁ ve beings taking shape

right in front of you, materializing from nowhere.

It takes you just a moment to realize that they

look exactly like you and your companions. What

do you do?”) The players then describe their

characters’ actions, usually in the ﬁ rst person.

The Storyteller then describes the results of the

action, going back and forth until the scene is

resolved. Dice are rolled when players have their

characters try things that aren’t guaranteed suc-

cess. Jumping on top of a moving car without

getting hurt would require a dice roll; climbing

out of a stationary one wouldn’t.

This introductory package contains everything

you and a small group of friends will need to play

your ﬁ rst game of Mage: The Awakening , except

for some pencils and paper (for notes) and several

10-sided dice. (These specialty dice are available

in most hobby shops and are sometimes called

“d10s.”) Those of you who are going to be play-

ers should read over the character backgrounds

included in this package and choose the one you

want to play. The Storyteller should read the rest

of the booklet in preparation before playing.

T HE R ULES

Mage: The Awakening uses a set of rules

called the Storytelling System. Many of the rules

are introduced in the scenario proper or on the

character sheets (special powers and so on), but

there are a few basics to go over ﬁ rst.

• Rolling Dice: When rolling dice in the

Storytelling System, you do not add the numbers

together. Instead, any single die that comes up

8 or better is considered a success. You usually

need only one success to accomplish a task, but

more is always better (causing more damage in

T HE G AME

Mage: The Awakening is a Storytelling (or

roleplaying) game. In it, a group of players co-

operates to tell a story. Each player takes on the

role of a single mage, except for the Storyteller.

This player essentially takes on every other role,

combat, for example). Any die that comes up a

“0” (considered a 10) counts as a success and

can be rolled again (and potentially get another

success). If you manage to roll ﬁ ve or more suc-

cesses, you get an exceptional success . If you

roll no successes at all, your character has failed

that action.

• Dice Pools: The number of dice you roll to

attempt something is called your dice pool. It

usually consists of the total of two traits on your

character sheet (one Attribute and one Skill) and

modiﬁ ers imposed by any special equipment your

character uses or adverse conditions.

• Modiﬁ ers: The Storyteller determines

what modiﬁ ers apply to any dice pool. Modiﬁ ers

either add to or subtract from the dice pool (the

number of dice rolled). These modiﬁ ers usually

come from tools used (a bonus is listed with the

tool), Merits that the character has (described

in the character description), or other general

circumstances. The Storyteller should grant or

impose a bonus or penalty (usually ranging from

+2 to –2) if the circumstances are especially

favorable or deleterious. For example, an attempt

to climb a wall that is slick with rain and slime

would suffer a –2 penalty, whereas climbing a

wall with plentiful handholds and ledges would

gain a +2.

• Chance Die: If modiﬁ ers reduce your dice

pool to zero dice (you can’t have a negative

dice pool), you should instead roll a single die

(called a chance die ). A 10 rolled on a chance

die generates a single success, while any other

result is a failure. And yes, if you manage to roll

that 10, you get to roll again and try for another

success. As long as you keep rolling 10s, you

keep generating successes. Rolling anything

other than a 10, however, is not a success. In

fact, rolling a 1 on a chance die (just on the ﬁ rst

roll, not subsequent rolls after getting that ﬁ rst

10) indicates a dramatic failure . The Storyteller

should describe especially troublesome results for

a dramatic failure, such as a gun jamming or a

tire blowing out during a car chase.

• Actions: Almost anything a character does

is considered an instant action . You determine

the dice pool, roll the dice, and see if you succeed

or fail. In combat you can perform one instant

action per turn. Sometimes, you’ll be asked to

take an extended action , which represents doing

something over a period of time, such as searching

a room or casting an especially complex spell. In

this case, every roll of the dice represents a ﬁ xed

a mou nt o f t i me (u su a l ly 10 m i nute s , but it va r ie s

for some more involved actions). You accumulate

successes from roll to roll until you get a certain

number (described in the text), at which point

either something happens or you run out of time.

Some actions can also be contested , which means

that two people are working against each other,

such as in an arm-wrestling match, or when a

character tries to sneak past a watchful guard.

In a contested action, each player (or the player

and the Storyteller) rolls the dice pool for his

character and the person with the most successes

wins. Finally, some actions are reﬂ exive , which

means that they happen automatically and don’t

take up any time—you can perform them and still

perform an instant action in that turn.

• Turns and Scenes: A turn is a three-second

period and is used in combat. A scene is a longer

period (usually an hour or as long as it takes for

everyone to do what they want in a particular

place). Some mage powers or spells function for a

single turn, while others last the whole scene.

T HE C HARACTER S HEET

The end section of this packet contains char-

acter sheets for the ﬁ ve characters that players

can use in Gloria Mundi . These sheets contain

all the game numbers that deﬁ ne a character’s

capabilities, divided into a variety of types of

traits. Most traits are rated from one dot (•) to

ﬁ ve d o t s (•••••), mu ch l i ke a s t a r r at i n g s y s t e m

for movie reviews. Different traits represent

different things:

• Attributes represent inherent capabilities,

such as Strength, Intelligence, or Presence.

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