Following up on my post from earlier today on The World of Darkness RPG.
One of the reoccurring themes in Willow & Tara fiction or games is their shared growth of magical power. As they grow together and grow more in love, their powers increase to a near phenomenal level. Sort of like the powers wielded in Mage the Awakening.
Now in my last Buffy campaign, "Season of the Witch", I had Willow and Tara become "mages". Not exactly what is here, but very close. I would be lying though if I didn't say there was some influence. There was. You can read about that in the last three adventures of that game:
This is also a common theme in the various Willow & Tara fanfics out there. In fact one of the best Willow/Tara fan fics out there is “Unexpected Consequences” by Lisa Countryman. Lisa even uses the word “mage” to describe their power level even though I know for a fact she has never seen any White Wolf game. In Lisa’s “Unexpected Consequences” Tara’s Awakening happens too soon and it causes, well, all sorts of unexpected consequences. It takes place during season six and is far, far better than what happened on TV. In the sequel fic “Milestones” Lisa deals quite well with Willow and Tara’s true Awakening some 10-15 years in the future. Not only does she capture 30-something Willow and Tara quite well, it is an excellent narrative of how an Awakening can happen or be done. Willow and Tara knew it was coming, and yet they are still totally unprepared for it. It also shows what an Awakening must be like through the eyes of a mundane or other non-awakened witches.
So as they grow old together Willow and Tara will get much more powerful.
Presented here are a possible Willow and Tara right after the events of Season of the Witch. I am borrowing heavy from Lisa here as well as my own World of Darkness (old) stats. This would have lead up to my Season 3 that would have been more magically focus. In fact these conversions lead right from my Mutants & Masterminds 2.0 conversions in terms of when they happened (game wise) and when I wrote them (real time). It was because of these two games that gave me the idea to move the girls to Boston.
Their Awakening in Brief
Lisa and I both consider Willow and Tara to be “old souls”, they have both been reincarnated many times and have shared many lives together. Our separate visions of this were so compatible that we meshed them. I had considered their first incarnations to be “Bodhmal” (Willow) and “Liath” (Tara) from Celtic Ireland, Lisa’s are “Belen” (Tara) and “Damara” (Willow). In either case Willow and Tara’s Awakening in Mage is a similar event to awakening their Old Soul in WitchCraft; contact with their primal soul-selves. In Mage Revised this would have been their avatar. In Mage the Awakening this is the primal spirit that instructs them on who they were, who they are now and what they are to become. I choose them both to take the Path of Thyrsus. While they are not really “shamans”, there is an earthy quality about Tara. It was more for their seeking of their Primordial Soul-selves. Plus in Lisa’s fiction Willow and Tara’s awakenings was always about a surplus of life and life-power. In UC Tara becomes faster, stronger and more confident. Something she tries to maintain later in MS. What also struck me was the description of the Thyrsus’ extreme emotions. This also fits Lisa’s fictions.
Delving deeper into the “Tome of The Watchtowers” (which also inspired the name for Episode 13) we learn that Thyrsus was the only Watchtower formed by a woman. The sexual nimbus fits with sex=magic we saw on TV and Lisa’s description of Adourflame (Episode 11).
I could have chosen Acanthus as well since this communication with their previous souls is across time and space, but I did not feel either of them fit the “Fool” or extremely lucky archetypes.
Willow Rosenberg
Path: Thyrsus Order: Mysterium
Virtue: Justice. Willow is very much about what is right and what is wrong.
Vice: Wrath. Some people bring a gun a knife fit, Willow brings a flame thrower.
Merits
Allies
Ambidextrous
Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Language 2
Striking looks 2
Size: 5
Speed: 8
Initiative Mod: 4
Defence: 2
Health: 8
Willpower: 6/6
Morality: 6
Mana: 9
Gnosis: 5
Wisdom: 8
Personal Data
Age: 27 (in 2008)
Ht: 5’3”
Wt: 115#
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Gender: Female
Arcana
Death: 0
Fate: 0
Forces: 3
Life: 2
Matter: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 2
Space: 0
Spirit: 1
Time: 0
Tara Maclay
Path: Thyrsus Order: Mysterium
Virtue: Temperance. Tara is nothing if not understanding and temperate
Vice: Sloth. She is not lazy, but she likes things to move a little slower. She does not enjoy fighting monsters.
Merits
Allies
Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Language 3
Striking looks 2
Size: 5
Speed: 9
Initiative Mod: 4
Defence: 2
Health: 8
Willpower: 7/7
Morality: 8
Mana: 10
Gnosis: 4
Wisdom: 8
Arcana
Death: 0
Fate: 0
Forces: 2
Life: 3
Matter: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 1
Space: 0
Spirit: 1
Time: 0
Personal Data
Age: 28 (in 2008)
Ht: 5’4”
Wt: 125#
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Gender: Female
Of all the re-builds I have done of the girls these are in my top 5.
If I were to pick-up playing these characters again I would seriously consider using the nWoD/Mage rules.
For Arcana I gave Willow 11 dots and Tara 10. This actually might be a little light.
I would love to play around some more with this game some day, but I can't find people to play it.
---
One of the reoccurring themes in Willow & Tara fiction or games is their shared growth of magical power. As they grow together and grow more in love, their powers increase to a near phenomenal level. Sort of like the powers wielded in Mage the Awakening.
Now in my last Buffy campaign, "Season of the Witch", I had Willow and Tara become "mages". Not exactly what is here, but very close. I would be lying though if I didn't say there was some influence. There was. You can read about that in the last three adventures of that game:
This is also a common theme in the various Willow & Tara fanfics out there. In fact one of the best Willow/Tara fan fics out there is “Unexpected Consequences” by Lisa Countryman. Lisa even uses the word “mage” to describe their power level even though I know for a fact she has never seen any White Wolf game. In Lisa’s “Unexpected Consequences” Tara’s Awakening happens too soon and it causes, well, all sorts of unexpected consequences. It takes place during season six and is far, far better than what happened on TV. In the sequel fic “Milestones” Lisa deals quite well with Willow and Tara’s true Awakening some 10-15 years in the future. Not only does she capture 30-something Willow and Tara quite well, it is an excellent narrative of how an Awakening can happen or be done. Willow and Tara knew it was coming, and yet they are still totally unprepared for it. It also shows what an Awakening must be like through the eyes of a mundane or other non-awakened witches.
So as they grow old together Willow and Tara will get much more powerful.
Presented here are a possible Willow and Tara right after the events of Season of the Witch. I am borrowing heavy from Lisa here as well as my own World of Darkness (old) stats. This would have lead up to my Season 3 that would have been more magically focus. In fact these conversions lead right from my Mutants & Masterminds 2.0 conversions in terms of when they happened (game wise) and when I wrote them (real time). It was because of these two games that gave me the idea to move the girls to Boston.
Their Awakening in Brief
Lisa and I both consider Willow and Tara to be “old souls”, they have both been reincarnated many times and have shared many lives together. Our separate visions of this were so compatible that we meshed them. I had considered their first incarnations to be “Bodhmal” (Willow) and “Liath” (Tara) from Celtic Ireland, Lisa’s are “Belen” (Tara) and “Damara” (Willow). In either case Willow and Tara’s Awakening in Mage is a similar event to awakening their Old Soul in WitchCraft; contact with their primal soul-selves. In Mage Revised this would have been their avatar. In Mage the Awakening this is the primal spirit that instructs them on who they were, who they are now and what they are to become. I choose them both to take the Path of Thyrsus. While they are not really “shamans”, there is an earthy quality about Tara. It was more for their seeking of their Primordial Soul-selves. Plus in Lisa’s fiction Willow and Tara’s awakenings was always about a surplus of life and life-power. In UC Tara becomes faster, stronger and more confident. Something she tries to maintain later in MS. What also struck me was the description of the Thyrsus’ extreme emotions. This also fits Lisa’s fictions.
Delving deeper into the “Tome of The Watchtowers” (which also inspired the name for Episode 13) we learn that Thyrsus was the only Watchtower formed by a woman. The sexual nimbus fits with sex=magic we saw on TV and Lisa’s description of Adourflame (Episode 11).
I could have chosen Acanthus as well since this communication with their previous souls is across time and space, but I did not feel either of them fit the “Fool” or extremely lucky archetypes.
Willow Rosenberg
Path: Thyrsus Order: Mysterium
Virtue: Justice. Willow is very much about what is right and what is wrong.
Vice: Wrath. Some people bring a gun a knife fit, Willow brings a flame thrower.
| Attributes | ||
| Intelligence: 5 | Strength: 1 | Presence: 3 |
| Wits: 3 | Dexterity: 2 | Manipulation: 2 |
| Resolve: 3 | Stamina: 3 | Composure: 3 |
Skills |
||
| Mental | Physical | Social |
| Academics 4 | Athletics 2 | Animal Ken 0 |
| Computer 5 | Brawl 1 | Empathy 1 |
| Crafts 1 | Drive 0 | Expression 1 |
| Investigation 2 | Firearms 0 | Intimidation 1 |
| Medicine 2 | Larceny 1 | Persuasion 2 |
| Occult 3 | Stealth 1 | Socialize 1 |
| Politics 1 | Survival 1 | Streetwise 1 |
| Science 4 | Weaponry 1 | Subterfuge 1 |
Merits
Allies
Ambidextrous
Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Language 2
Striking looks 2
Size: 5
Speed: 8
Initiative Mod: 4
Defence: 2
Health: 8
Willpower: 6/6
Morality: 6
Mana: 9
Gnosis: 5
Wisdom: 8
Personal Data
Age: 27 (in 2008)
Ht: 5’3”
Wt: 115#
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Gender: Female
Arcana
Death: 0
Fate: 0
Forces: 3
Life: 2
Matter: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 2
Space: 0
Spirit: 1
Time: 0
Tara Maclay
Path: Thyrsus Order: Mysterium
Virtue: Temperance. Tara is nothing if not understanding and temperate
Vice: Sloth. She is not lazy, but she likes things to move a little slower. She does not enjoy fighting monsters.
| Attributes | ||
| Intelligence: 3 | Strength: 2 | Presence: 3 |
| Wits: 4 | Dexterity: 1 | Manipulation: 1 |
| Resolve: 3 | Stamina: 3 | Composure: 4 |
Skills |
||
| Mental | Physical | Social |
| Academics 3 | Athletics 0 | Animal Ken 2 |
| Computer 2 | Brawl 1 | Empathy 3 |
| Crafts 1 | Drive 1 | Expression 0 |
| Investigation 2 | Firearms 0 | Intimidation 0 |
| Medicine 1 | Larceny 0 | Persuasion 0 |
| Occult 5 | Stealth | Socialize 1 |
| Politics 0 | Survival 1 | Streetwise 1 |
| Science 1 | Weaponry 1 | Subterfuge 0 |
Merits
Allies
Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Language 3
Striking looks 2
Size: 5
Speed: 9
Initiative Mod: 4
Defence: 2
Health: 8
Willpower: 7/7
Morality: 8
Mana: 10
Gnosis: 4
Wisdom: 8
Arcana
Death: 0
Fate: 0
Forces: 2
Life: 3
Matter: 1
Mind: 2
Prime: 1
Space: 0
Spirit: 1
Time: 0
Personal Data
Age: 28 (in 2008)
Ht: 5’4”
Wt: 125#
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Gender: Female
Of all the re-builds I have done of the girls these are in my top 5.
If I were to pick-up playing these characters again I would seriously consider using the nWoD/Mage rules.
For Arcana I gave Willow 11 dots and Tara 10. This actually might be a little light.
I would love to play around some more with this game some day, but I can't find people to play it.
---
This is my last post for the YAM Magazine LBGT Blogathon. I wanted to end with Willow & Tara and using one of the most accepting RPG I have ever known.
Have you a link to any chapters after 18 of Lisa Countryman's story Milestones?
ReplyDeleteDo you have links for chapters 19 and on of Lisa Countryman's Milestones?
ReplyDeleteShe stopped at 18. She never wrote any more in that book as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteThere was a rough draft for 19 around somewhere. I can't promise anything, but I will look.
ReplyDelete