The Magic of the Icons

I'm writing this entry for some of my players who'll be playing Icons in next month's game. It's to give them an idea of what sort of supernatural being the Icons are. Also it's to see how well I can explain the nature of the Icons in as brief a time as possible.

1. What are Icons?

 The Icons tap into the collective endless dreams and ideas of the world where ideas are formed. This is called the Mindforge. They bring these ideas into a brief, phantasmal existence inside a bubble of malleable reality called a Chimeric Flux. (Also known as a Flux Field)
The Chimeric Flux by default extends to the Icon and all she touches, but can be extended by the Icon using magical energy. All Mindforge powers work and are fully “real” inside the Chimeric Flux. Any effects that leave the Chimeric Flux become insubstantial illusions that can be disbelieved. Objects and creatures that are outside the Chimeric Flux disappear within about 10 minutes, becoming insubstantial immediately and fading away as the Mindforge energies sustaining them disappear.

2. What can Icons do?

Three things: 1. An Icon can manipulate our current reality to a limited extent. 2. An Icon can attune himself to a fictional reality, called a Mythos, and bring elements of that reality into our current reality.3. An Icon can attune herself to the Mindforge in a dreamlike trance to enter other worlds of possibility and the dreams of sleeping humans. 

3. Can Icons bring into existance anything they can imagine?

No. Icons have two limitations. The first limitation is that of scope. For the real world, Icons can only manipulate one aspect, depending on their type. There are 6 known types of Icons:
Conjurers - Who can create any object, as long as it is wholly within their Flux Field. 
Transporters - Who can create illusory terrain, and by using lots of magical energy teleport the contents of whole rooms to other locations. 
Connectors - Who can make or break relationships between objects and people. 
Thespians - Who can take on the body, trappings and clothes of a fictional person. 
Rouser - Who can create powerful emotions in the areas within their Flux Field.
Summoners - Who can create imaginary people and animals from thin air, who exist only within the Flux Field of the summoner. 

When channelling a Mythos, an Icon may use any three of the above powers, set at the time of attunement, but they can only bring ideas and concepts plausible to the Mythos into the real world. Furthermore, channelling a Mythos costs the Icon a lot more energy then normal uses of her magic. 

The second limitation is that of effect. When an Icon alters reality, she essentially declares something that is not real, as real. This is known as a Truth. Icons only have a limited number of truths that can operate in their minds at any one time. Beginning Icons have two. Experienced Icons can have up to four. When an Icon hits the number of truths that are active she will need to dismiss one of them, or tie off the Truth to a power source other then herself. 

4.  How do Icons power their magic?

Icons power their magic through energy from the Mindforge called Breath. Like the name implies, it is energy that is breathed in by the Icon from the collective mind of humanity. Icons can hold a vast amount of Breath, but the more Breath they hold, the more prone they are to hallucinations, violent emotional swings and poor impulse control. Icons who were educated by the Infinite Symphony are trained to resist the compulsions that having too much Breath will cause. 

While drawing Breath, Icons must shut down all manifestations of their power, and enter a meditative state to draw Breath. 

5. The Mindforge is tainted

Because of events in the Great War, the Mindforge is tainted. This manifests as a special Mythos that all Icons are attuned to. This Mythos is just like baseline reality, but you can use ALL powers of an Icon, and can use them to fulfill your every whim. However using this forbidden power in a selfish manner erodes your humanity. If you lose it you will become one of the monsters you are trying to protect the world from: A Wyrm. 

6. What else do I need to know about Icons?

Icons have spirit companions called Clarion Spirits that provide their power in exchange for a repetitive task that the Icon must do called a Contract. Clarion Spirits, depending on the type of Cantor, can be very talkative (as in the case of Summoners) or quite quiet (in the case of Conjurers). They follow the Icon around, usually in an incorporeal form. 

Icons can summon a spiritual weapon called a Mind edge. The Mind edge passes through anything material but does psychic damage to any living or sentient creature. Creatures "killed" by a Mind edge become unconscious if they are native to this reality, or really die if they are not. Like all magical effects, summoning the Mind edge requires a Truth to be active.

Short RPG Games in 2015

In the time since I last wrote this blog, I've got 2 active D&D groups, with 2 more groups in the forming stage. Now I love D&D and the fantasy setting but I believe a good gamer should have more game experiences then good old D&D, so for 2015 I'm putting together some short games using other systems. These will last from 1-3 sessions and hopefully people will enjoy them. I'll be posting these on different RPG web communities in the Philippines and interest in them will determine in which order I run these games.

Most of these are Fate system games,which is a testimony to how versatile the system is.  Where applicable, the background information for each setting have been copy pasted from the PDFs of each book that I own.

1. Apotheosis Drive X

What's it like: Science fiction giant robot war drama, primarily inspired by the Gundam 00 and Gundam Wing anime series.

System: Fate Core

Background:

Humanity lives on colonies in the stars, they have built super soldiers, clones, and giant machines of war, called Titans. They war with these machines in the mistaken opinion that there “isn’t enough” for everyone, despite the huge solar relay in the atmosphere that powers all of the Earth cleanly and endlessly.

The Great Clone War has ended, with the clones returning to their colonies off planet, earth ‘united’ under the One Earth Accord. Malcontents form the People’s Collective and demand attention and independence from the Accord. The Nation of Oya, genetically altered super humans and scientists, attempt to live as neutral peacekeepers despite political heat. And everyone, everyone wants to be the first to come up with the next big leap in Titan technology. The faction with the next advancement in Drive technology, will become the dominant faction.

Adventure Scenario: "Against the Ghost Titans"

In the aftermath of the Great Clone War, the four great factions of the Earth Sphere created a secret peacekeeping force code-named Radiant Helix. Captain Cornelia Black, formerly of Radiant Helix has gone rogue and it's up to the PCs to deal with her and her squad of rogue mechs called the Ghost Titans.

2. Angel's Song - The Infinite Symphony

What it's like - It's an anime themed urban fantasy like "the Matrix" meets Arkham Horror with a touch of psychological drama. This game setting is my original creation.

System: Fate Core

Background:

This story is set in the World of the Great Work, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, which resembles modern day Earth except that magic is real and hidden from day to day view. This is because in reality this Earth is like a fortress under siege.

Invaders enter the cracks in the walls, some are benign but most are malicious. An organization of mortals known as the Symphony, wields magic and the world's built in defenses to contain and combat the invaders and repair the damage that they cause.

The Symphony is composed of two orders of magic users: The Cantors, who wield the elemental powers of reality, and the Icons, who have the ability to make mental concepts real. Their powers complement each other to protect reality

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However in the last Great War, the Icons were corrupted. Most were killed and the Cantors now manage the magical defenses alone, but are having a difficult time doing it. The Icons are slowly returning, their spirits finding new humans to bless with power, but it is tainted power, and the Icons must fight not only the enemies without, but their own emerging selfishness, knowing that if they give in to it, they will birth one of the very monsters they are fighting to preserve the world from, a Wyrm.

You are playing an Icon, a member of the Infinite Symphony, you and your rag-tag group of fellow Icons have banded together to fight a guerrilla war against the invaders while avoiding the Cantors, who see your group as a dangerous threat.

Adventure Scenario: "Tears for the magical girl."

The PC's former leader, Ageha, aka "Silver Feather" has been assimilated by a powerful Wyrm and is using her in its siege of Shibuya. Can the PCs save her before she is taken out by the Cantors and stop the Wyrm from corrupting Shibuya?

3. Angel's Song - The Eternal Symphony

What it’s like – Men-In-Black meets the X Men with a healthy dose of anime tropes. This game setting is my original creation.

System: Fate Core

Background:

This game is also set in the World of the Great Work in the Shibuya District of Tokyo. You are playing a Cantor, a member of Squad 9-2 of the East Asia Bureau of the Eternal Symphony. You have newly graduated from the Academy and with your fellow new recruits, have been assigned to patrol the greater Kanto area with 2 other squads against supernatural threats.

Among the threats you are monitoring are the Reavers, fallen Cantors who possess and consume the bodies of innocent people in order to work their magic. Though their very existence is an affront to the Eternal Symphony, they are left alone for now since other threats exist and the Reavers also help protect the world, but eventually the Symphony will deal with them since the Reaver idea of helping mortals is by dominating them.

Adventure Scenario: "Only Mother."

A young boy develops the power to rewrite reality, abused the power and has hidden in the territory of the Reavers. The players must find him before he creates more orphans from the families of the city. But the Reavers will not take the invasion of their territory lightly, so the players must deal with the political ramifications of their mission.

4. Mindjammer

What it’s like – The Firefly TV show, but with posthuman elements (sentient starships, bioengineered humans etc)

System: Fate Core

Background

Mindjammer is set in the New Commonality of Humankind, a vast interstellar civilisation centred on Old Earth. Following the invention of faster-than-light travel only two centuries ago, the Commonality is expanding to the stars, contacting lost worlds colonised in the distant past. The Expansionary Era is a time of turmoil; as the Commonality discovers and assimilates these lost colonies, it finds itself getting “colonised right back”, its cultures and stability shaken to the core. Agents of the Commonality battle constantly against cultural contamination, and everywhere the frontier flares in conflict and war.

Adventure Scenario: "Rim Justice"

The PCs are the crew of the sentient trading starship Windrunner. After a deal between a corporacy and a colony goes horribly wrong the PCs must transport key witnesses to the octant capital for trial. But in the lawless edge of civilized space, anything can happen and it's up to the players to ensure that the key witness survives to see his court appointment.

5. The Strange

What’s it like – Dr. Who or Quantum Leap, involving inter-dimensional travel and adventures within. In each new world, you become another “You” that can be very different from the world you came from!

System: Cypher System

STRANGE PRIMER

The Strange is a network created by aliens several billion years ago. Estate researchers believe the Strange was built to allow intergalactic travel. It’s unknown at this time what went wrong, but the builders lost control of their creation.

In the course of passing aeons, the Strange became something wild, chaotic, and without rules or laws (which is why we also call it the Chaosphere).

NATURE OF THE STRANGE

Think of the Strange as its own boundless realm—as a separate universe underlying our own. The Chaosphere has no direct relationship to matter and space as we understand it: There is no up or down, there is no ground beneath a visitor’s feet in most places, and merely gazing into its lawless void damages the human brain (“alienation” is the preferred term for the pain and derangement most operatives experience upon visiting the Strange).

RECURSIONS IN THE STRANGE

Stable regions called recursions exist within the Strange. Recursions are like tiny, self-contained universes. Each one operates under a particular set of rules, which means that planetovores have almost as difficult a time entering a recursion as they do entering Earth. In fact, a recursion can act as a barrier for preventing a planetovore from getting to Earth, thanks to the presence of the recursion’s rules.

Earth and the visible universe operate under a familiar set of rules, called Standard Physics. But different recursions often operate under alternate sets of rules.

The Estate has classified the following additional laws under which recursions operate:

Magic, Mad Science, Psionics, Substandard Physics, and [redacted].

Adventure Scenario: "The Curious Case of Tom Mallard"

The PCs work for the Estate, an agency that protects the Earth from the threat of alternate universes. Assigned to trail a certain Tom Mallard, to make sure that he isn't doing anything to undermine Earth's security, they soon discover that he is not what he seems.

6. Jadepunk - Tales from Kausao City

What it’s like – Wuxia meets Steampunk set in a huge corrupt city.

System: Fate Core

Background:

The world of Jadepunk is one of danger and wonder. Jade, a natural resource that takes on mystical properties once refined, grants near-modern technology while still keeping that old-world feel. With the help of white jade, ships (and even some cities) sail through the sky. Red jade explosives are used in construction, while the strength of green jade shores up skyscrapers.

Kausao City is the center of the economic world. Black jade, rare and once thought merely a legend, was found in the region in abundance. Now the city is a melting pot of different cultures, all vying to exploit the area’s rich veins of jade.

But despite the glamorous stories of the fabled city, all is not well within its high walls. The current governor of the Kausao region backs evil corporations, feeding off low-level workers who are perceived to be, at best, expendable. The rich care for nothing but personal gain, and the poor have had enough.

A rebellion has begun. The Jianghu, a loose society of warriors and Jadetech engineers, have risen up against the governor in open conflict to better the position of the people and free Kausao City from the clutches of evil officials.

The adventure in this setting is yet to be designed.

Angel's Song: The Conceit

Today, I present to you the conceit of my Tabletop RPG/Manga/Visual Novel "Angel's Song"

Super powered manga characters!

You are a Cantor. A member of one of the four Supernatural Clades of humanity. You know that things have been hidden from the everyday world. Magic, supernatural beings, not-so-human beings exist and our world is constantly under threat by monsters from other worlds. All of these things have been hidden from mundane view by a great Reality Veil that resets reality every night at midnight in an attempt to repair any damage done to it and prevent monsters from getting through.

Of course, with reality around here damaged as it is, things get through. Mean things, nasty things. Things that want to use this raucous and chaotic city as their base of operations to eventually conquer reality.

Our job is to stop them.

 

You can probably channel and shape fire, air, water, earth or some other exotic elemental force like Order or Spacetime. You were born with it. A gift from your parents, or your grandparents, kept secret from you until you’re ready. Now you know what it’s for.

They call us Cantors because we hear a voice singing a single note every time we draw the energy of the Worldwell, the force of creation. When the magic fills us up, we hear that note in our heads, and when we channel the energy into the world, everyone around us hears it too. And for those things we hunt, it's the last thing they hear. Yes. We're weapons.

 

We don't do this alone though.

 

Together we're the Eternal Symphony. Most of us anyway. It's an old, old, old institution. It used to be monolithic, like the Church, but today, things are more progressive in the sense that we're more diverse and free now. Some say too progressive as some of us have some positively stupid ideas about how to protect reality.

 

The Eternal Symphony used to just be just "The Symphony". We had our partners, those who could bring the ideas of the world to life just as we could channel its raw elemental power. They were called Icons and in the Symphony they were known as the Infinite Symphony.

 

What happened to the Icons? They all went mad. Or will be mad.

 

During the Great War, some idiot had this crazy idea to use the power of the chaos between the worlds to buffer the Earth's defenses. The device backfired and tainted the Mindforge, where the Icons draw their power. Now it’s driving them all crazy.

 

Yeah not all of them are crazy yet. Granted some of them are pretty stable. But eventually, they'll snap. They can't help it. Their power source is tainted. Eventually we'll have to put them down. But not while they're still useful. They help as best they can, but we'll always have a wary eye on them, and put them out of their misery when they finally lose their humanity.

 

The Icons aren't the only ones of our brethren to fall. They're just the latest ones. The first ones are still out there, and still a thorn in our sides. They're called Reavers and they are monsters. They feed off the life energy humans and other supernatural beings to fuel their own destructive abilities and they enjoy it. Literally they do. Their brains release endorphins when they sense pain coming from a victim. They claim that the best way to "protect" everyone is to rule over them as their secret masters. We've been at war with them ever since. But still they do protect reality in a way. I remember once in an encounter, we would stop fighting to go kill a monster that had entered our territory. Though they think of themselves as dark heroes I think they're just sadist hedonists with a messiah complex.

 

Of course, our ancient enemies have always been the primal, malicious forces that enter the world to corrupt it. We collectively call them the Wyrm. They come from the chaos between realities. Like viruses seeking to invade a healthy cell, they slip into our Reality, and begin multiplying. Yes. Multiplying. Wyrms have the ability to infect other people and places with their reality, transforming those things into versions of themselves. They've been trying to get at us since time immemorial. And the sad thing is, this is what a Tainted Icon eventually becomes... which is why we end up killing them. The Wyrm do not reason, they do not negotiate. They only exist to propagate. Never forget that no matter what lies they put in front of you to seduce you to follow them.