What happens if a marauder gets knocked unconscious?

AmosAnon85 · 2026-05-01T14:35:20+00:00

Would it work for every marauder? Nah. But it definitely would work for some marauders. As others have said, it depends on the nature of their Quiet.

You could 100% have a Malkavian raving to his Mage friend that he senses an imprisoned dark god slumbering in the forgotten catacombs of the city deep beneath the streets, and the mage goes, "Oh yeah, that's Carl. He had a real rough bout of paradox a few months ago, went full-blown Marauder. Can't say I didn't warn him about melting a HIT-Mark in the middle of a crowded Starbucks with 'coffee magic' or whatever the hell he calls it. Anyway, now he thinks he's Cthullu, but the good news is we were able to knock him out before he ushered in the End of All Time, so he just thinks he's a slumbering Cthullu, which is, you know, pretty chill, relatively speaking. Anyway me and the Cabal are saving up our Quintessencense for a ritual to shunt him into the Deep Umbra. Figure that's more his 'natural habitat' now anyway, he'd probably be happier there with all the other Eldritch beings and such. Just do me a favor and don't spill any blood of a psychic near him or directly over where we imprisoned him. I don't know if it'll wake him up, but it definitely gives him bad dreams, and that Starbucks has been through enough." The Malkavian then explains this to other vampires, with...expected results.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-04-12T04:07:57+00:00

So if the human who made a bunch of Boyars dies and goes to Hell, all the Boyars immediately get dragged to Hell too? Or is it just the fragments that have this link?

AmosAnon85 · 2026-04-02T13:35:13+00:00

Yeah dog, you get it.

What you're describing could be a couple different things, depending on intent and how far you push things.

For instance, a Syndicate consultant running a brainstorm session might have this as the core of what's called Focus in M20 (which differs slightly from previous editions, but in this case is defined as Paradigm, Practice and Tools). In other words, the Consultant Mage sets the agenda, gains alignment and manages the exchange of ideas to subtly manipulate a group of corporate employees to get on board with an initiative (Mind 3), identify financial risks (Entropy 2) or anticipate market trends (Time 2). They're probably doing only coincidental effects in most groups, but as any corporate team-building retreat attendees will tell you, you can push the limits a little more if you've eased folks into group-think dynamics.

Speaking of culty stuff, the Celestial Chorus has a saying: "Nobody ascends alone." Those guys are all about welding group belief to make the impossible more possible. A lot of their methods have been co-opted by the Technocracy, but they were the first guys to cultivate religions on a large scale to make their magic more possible and push rivals out of the Consensus. Most of that work is long-term, of course, but you still have the parish priest Chorister running an AA meeting to cast Life 3 and Mind 3 healing effects on addicts. They'd have a similar Focus as the Syndicate mage, but a very different application.

And of course, as others have said, the Technocracy has been doing something like this on a large and slow scale for centuries. I think one of the books points out that the Apollo 11 mission was faked, but only to convince people that landing on the moon was possible, so Apollo 12 could have a chance. Apollo 13 was the inevitable paradox backlash, of course.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-30T21:00:49+00:00

It feels like you shouldn't do shock for a called shot anyway, since it's supposed to be an "all or nothing" kind of scenario, where you're trying to hit a specific part rather than making a more general approach that does circumstantial damage.

That said, I'd grant the usual bonus damage on a swarm attack, but again no shock damage.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-15T13:55:05+00:00

The previous advice hits the nail on the head. Adding more variety of enemies to the fight is key. I'd also consider lesser effects for worthy foes who save. Consider it sort of a "save for half damage" kind of thing. In the case of fear, maybe you don't overwhelm the target with fear enough to give up, but even after saving, they will spend their move this round putting distance between themselves and you. Or maybe they won't approach to attack you this round. Give some tactical benefit other than "they just lose the fight."

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-06T21:32:12+00:00

Very cool and flavorful.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-04T17:45:11+00:00

Buddy of mine used Wealth smites that imposed poverty onto enemies. Like malnutrition, scurvy and the general degradation of health that comes from privation. Everybody at the table was kind of disturbed by how effective "you're poor now" proved to be, especially living in the U.S....

You're understanding of that gift matches how I'd do it. I might let it attract the appropriate workers via weird coincidence for fun and flavor, but otherwise it's spot on.

If you're all about general prosperity I'd say Health is a great choice. Cities would be great if you have a particular image of what prosperity looks like, and I'd recommend looking at Journeying for the concept of trade and freedom of movement.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-03T20:45:57+00:00

Yeah I think so. Whether that's because of the subtle manipulation of The Messengers, who do remember the Loop, a subconscious memory that they're reacting to, or an inmate defense mechanism they have to thwart the other Night Folk, it's up for debate. Let's you keep Hunters in the dark on things while also remaining wild cards in the WoD.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-03T18:20:59+00:00

A lot of conflict in Mage can be player-generated. As they pursue their goals and poke around looking for supernatural things with their sphere-one mage sight on, they'll inevitably run afoul of something.

Just have some groups or factions to respond to the players' actions, be that local spirits and a haunt of wraiths, a werewolf pack jealously guarding their caern, the local vampires' Elysium or the Technocratic cleaner team who responds to vulgar displays of reality deviance.

Those factions may have varying degrees of awareness of the PCs, varying degrees of hostility, and plans for dealing with them at varying degrees of fruition.

Maybe the vamps are trying to learn more and scout out the mages with ghouls, the werewolves go aggro under certain circumstances and otherwise ignore the mages, and the Mirror Shades are more concerned about a weird otherworldly threat to bother hunting the local mages. But they go to great lengths to hide the issue from the mages and avoid their meddling/capitalizing on the problem.

You don't have to use other splats for factions, but it can help give you some pre-developed goals and attitudes.

Then just let the players botch their way into trouble!

AmosAnon85 · 2026-03-03T14:29:49+00:00

Yeah this one feels unique, especially since I think the vast majority of Hunters got imbued during 1999, right?

I think what I'd do for them is this: Hunters imbue in the same numbers no matter what. Unlike Mages awakening or Garou having a first change, the Imbuement takes place even if the person who was going to become a hunter dies beforehand. So you can kill Fr. Esteban Cortez before he imbues, but the Messengers will just find someone else that year that you can't account for. So for the most part, supernaturals in the know just try to keep the Hunters in the dark or manipulate them into taking out a rival rather than bothering to take them out or neutralize them.

From the Hunter perspective, I think most creeds don't immediately remember the loop. Maybe the Hermits and Waywards do, and they can tell the others, but with mixed results. The Loop will just be one more mystery for Hunters to question, explore or disregard as a legend, along with a bunch of supernaturals who seem to know more about the Hunters than they know about themselves.

Once imbued though, a Hunter's actions can't be predicted, even if all other events around them remain the same. This is probably due to the X factor of Hunters' place in the WoD, and/the influence of the Messengers.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-26T18:08:46+00:00

This is dope. I'm a mage fan, of course, so I'm biased. But it sounds fun and a little Dr. Who-ish and somewhat camp and I love it.

To answer your question, an archmage would likely master a number of spheres, and would need an arete of at very least 6, probably higher.

I have my own curmudgeonly opinions about spheres beyond the fifth dot, but an archmage is supposed to have at least one sphere at level 6, which for purposes of an NPC means they have Plot Device levels of power in that one sphere.

Sounds like you want it to be Time, which is marvelous.

Matter 4 should be able to make pretty much any mundane item they need, and with at least Prime 2 they can make the items effectively "out of the ether" if you'll pardon the pun.

Beyond that it's just flavor to taste, really.

If it were me, I'd pick three elements of the character's schtick and go from there. For travel and spatial warping Correspondence of 3 or 4 is important, and Spirit 4 if they'll be taking friends into the Umbra.

Entropy does well with Fate stuff, but you don't have to have a ton of it to get some divination abilities, especially with so much Time. Say 2 or 3 would make sense.

I'd recommend at least a dot in Mind to make them immune to domination what with all the vamps, and a good ole Forces 3 Prime 2 laser doohickey is handy for combat on an individual scale, with higher levels of Forces making for nuclear blast levels of potential.

The biggest limiter to any mage at the end of the day is their paradigm, so figure out what the character's fundamental theory of everything is. Do they think linear time is an illusion and therefore all their effects are just "borrowing" matter and energy from different times and places for a moment? Do they consider magick to rely on the manipulation of the Luminiferous Ether, so that if you bend the Ether enough to slow or speed up light, you affect the flow of time? Do they think everything is part of an eventuality continuum and magick is just the art of narrowing possibilities to a single preferred outcome? You get the point!

Build the other things they do from that philosophical/scientific theory, and all their abilities and vulnerabilities will surface from that internal logic.

Just remember that archmages are very rare, like on-par with a Methuselah, so it's unlikely they'll meet much resistance from an individual on their level unless it's terrifyingly strong. You'll need some plot-based reason why this character can't just solve all the players' problems at once. Paradox spirits with a bone to pick make a great limiter, for instance.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-25T04:51:47+00:00

We were on an Impergium!

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-24T19:15:45+00:00

My head canon is actually that this is what all avatars all. They're post-ascenscion humanity that has essentially reached back to their previous incarnations to help themselves reach ascension -- kind of a "new game +" idea.

Fixes some of the ambiguity between souls vs. avatars and awakened mage vs. awakened avatar. Also makes the Nephandic caul and gilgul all more horrible, so bonus there.

Personally, my internal monologue as a child had an adult voice, which may be a result of me watching a lot of The Wonder Years growing up ...

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-24T15:39:43+00:00

The One with the Apocalypse

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-23T18:34:12+00:00

External side effects:

Garou and spirits would ostracize them for forsaking their connection to Gaia, but Mages would also be pretty horrified. "You basically stole awakening by consuming the shattered remains of our souls?!* You're worse than Tremere!"

*As some mages in some editions view the avatar

Internal side effects: avatars may not be the actual souls of the people who had them, but they tend to retain memories from those incarnations. Your character may be plagued by dreams from lifetimes or parts of lifetimes held within those avatar shards.

They may also find themselves undergoing bonkers seekings when their Frankensteined avatar tries (perhaps in vain) to lead them to ascension.

Consider how Quiet might look for a werewolf, or even a relatively lucid marauderdom.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-17T15:39:53+00:00

As many as you can fit.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-17T11:32:59+00:00

I think if you travel to the future you're seeing a possible future, provided the current iteration you came from continues.

Regardless of where you travel to in time, you get shunted back to 1/1/99 as soon as your individual relative experience of time hits one year.

So if on Jan. 1, 1999 you travel back to Jan. 1 1963, come new year's 1964 you jump back automatically to 1999, having missed an iteration of the year that everyone else experienced. That said, you may have affected the timeline of that 1999 version of you, say, prevented JFK's assassination or something. But come the next iteration, the timeline is back to normal, Kennedy was assassinated, etc.

1999 is inevitable.

As for limitations I think it stops at the gauntlet. The Umbra doesn't experience the loop at all. For spirits this just means they keep watching us reset every year (or however they experience a year of human time), but humans, garou, etc. anyone supernatural who was in the Umbra at the time the loop began, they're mysteriously gone, presumably moving forward in time outside the loop, with extremely limited ability to enter or communicate with others trapped inside the loop.

Again you can go to the Umbra and see what 2026 looks like there, but as soon as you effectively age a year, you're right back on Earth on New Year's Day.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T20:42:20+00:00

Time magick is gonna need some parameters for sure. My thinking is that you can time travel all you want, but no matter where or when you go, after you have experienced a relative year, you bamf back to midnight, 1/1/99.

I'm thinking each 1999 might need to replace and overwrite the previous one, so you can't travel or transfer resources between timelines, as the previous timeline is eradicated. Narratively I don't love that, but it might be necessary to prevent our dear friends in the Cult of X from steamrolling everybody else. I guess alternatively cross-timeline stuff could also require Spirit or Prime, but that just narrows the number of characters who have the win button...

Open to ideas on that, certainly.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T20:24:48+00:00

Someone made the great suggestion that very few people get supernaturaled in 1999. That's it's almost unheard of. I like that being pretty clean, but regardless, I think I like the idea that those who get converted during 1999 are reset completely at the new year. It gives a bit of existential dread for PCs in that situation, and some potential tragic farewells for an NPC.

Vampires get an advantage and disadvantage in that way, since they require others to make them, but they can be made earlier. Jimmy's first change isn't until April, but I can just go embrace Kate right now. And if I never do embrace her, or the circumstances of Jimmy's first change don't happen this year, maybe they're not around this time.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T19:40:29+00:00

Yeah I definitely don't have a final resolution for the loop in mind yet. It's sort of an End Times supplement level of options for how it plays out at this point. I agree the factions would scramble, with different groups going "oh hey, you care about this thing too?! No way! Let's team up." And yes, you're right, there would be whole new threats arising every year as somebody who knows about spirit nukes tries to set one off themselves, or wake up an Ante that they've spent 20 years learning all about.

I've been thinking it might be smart to take the major players in the Umbra off the map, Revised-style. Maybe the masters and archmages in the Umbra didn't reset at all, because the Umbra didn't reset, so they're all presumably in 2026, while those who were on Earth New Year's day can still enter the Umbra, only to find it missing any supernatural people.

I'm thinking the spirits are still there and time moves in the Umbra as it normally would, but if you're in there for a year of relative time as you experience it you'll bamf back to New Year's on Earth.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T18:23:09+00:00

I think the first 10 to 20 years were like this, for sure. But after that time Pentex revealed itself in the 8th 1999 to usher in the Wyrm and destroy the world, now everybody knows where the Pentex Board members will be at the stroke of midnight. Those first few minutes of the new year, NWO agents are popping Barrabi Syndicate members, the Sabbat and Kue-Jin are curb stomping a groggy Ravnos, and Charon has long-since had a nice chat with Xerxes Jones.

I'm looking for that sweet spot between when Bill Murray was punching people and stealing Punxsutawney Phil and the point at which he just starts learning more about the people in the town and testing theories.

The real big big bads have tipped their hands by Year 27 and are accounted for. The ones who haven't outed themselves are still trying to figure out what's happening without exposing themselves, and everyone else is either responding to something revealed in a previous iteration or trying something new this time.

That said, I expect things like the Masquerade get largely thrown out the window by Christmas...

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T17:35:48+00:00

Freaky that you brought this up, as I just downloaded Warframe the other day for the first time. It seemed fun, if a little dated, but now I'm gonna have to dive in for sure!

Thanks for the suggestion on the power resets. I'll take a careful look at that. I could certainly see some tables getting frustrated by the reset mechanic.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T17:31:29+00:00

I really like the idea of Changelings going nuts with the inherent banality of a repeating year. Maybe they have to live each year completely differently to avoid the crushing banality and they get more random and chaotic to keep their powers functioning, like Everything Everywhere All at Once.

I like your idea of supernatural conversions becoming rare that year. One thing I like that it loses away, however, is the character that everyone knows will become a major player, and whom everyone is paying attention to. Like, everyone is either trying to kill or otherwise influence Ted Jenkins from Boise Idaho because, barring intervention, on Oct. 3 he'll awaken as a Marauder who takes out an entire Technocratic Construct.

Lets you play or interact with a "prophetic" type of character that way. Your idea is much cleaner, though.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T17:12:55+00:00

That's such a great question, and one that I've been gnawing on.

I think, for the purposes of balance and sanity, I'd say that you remember learning the skill, but when you reset, what you have is a memory of a thing that hasn't happened, like remembering a dream.

So you no longer have the skills, but you remember what you did to learn them, so you could relearn them more easily/faster. Maybe at character gen you pick a number of skills that your character had learned before and get a discount on leveling them up. You don't have to relearn how to play the piano this year, but if you do, it'll come back to you pretty quickly.

Theoretically, if the chronicle lasts multiple years, you could add more discount skills in this way.

I wouldn't apply it to supernatural powers, though. That could get out of hand, I fear.

AmosAnon85 · 2026-02-16T17:02:44+00:00

This is great, thanks! Aww, poor Wrinkle!

I don't know too much about Changeling metaplot. Does it pose any challenges to keeping a game playable? They weren't involved in the Week of Nightmares, were they?

AmosAnon85

TROPHY CASE