Chaos Magick for the WitchCraft RPG

More stuff for the WitchCraft RPG, still my most favorite game that I didn't write myself. ;)


Chaos Magick for the WitchCraft RPG

“Nothing is True and Everything is Permitted”
- Traditional saying of Chaos Mages

Chaos Magick (with a ‘k’) is a new sub-tradition that at first seems to be a parody or even a mockery of the traditions that came before it. While this may in fact have some truth in it, what can’t be denied is there is a fascination for what they do and are (or what is commonly believed they are) and it may be one of the fastest growing traditions. The other truth that cannot be denied is that Chaos Magick, for all its seeming self-contradictions, does actually work.
Practitioners are called Chaos Mages or Chaos Witches by outsiders, but they prefer the term Chaote or at worse Chaos Magicians. The tradition is loosely formed and very disorganized. To refer to them as “chaotic” is not just a play on words, but a very adequate description.

History
Chaos Magick Grew out of the merging of various traditions of the 1960s it was not formalized till 1976-8. Some claim its birth was more properly placed in the 1890s during the Victorian Occult revival. It gained more ground after that with Austin Osman Spare, one of Crowley’s contemporaries. His philosophies of magic embraced many various traditions, but not a part of any of them. It blended with the ideas of both Wicca (it’s positive influence) and Discordianism (it’s more ‘negative’ side). It had rapid growth in the 1990s due to the popularizing of various chaos math theories, end of the millennia hysteria and the ability to connect and exchange ideas via the Internet. It has its obvious roots in the various solitary practices that began near the end of the millennium, but it also has influences as diverse as the Wicce traditions of the 1960’s and the Rosicrucians of the 1890’s.
One should not underestimate the power that technology has had in the formation of this tradition. What might have been separate, disparate ideas from isolated groups found interconnections and intraconnections thanks to the rapid communication features of the nascent World Wide Web. Practitioners naturally claim this is the very nature of Chaos Magick; the elements were all in place to provide a spontaneous generation of the Tradition itself. Many believe that if occultist had embraced the telegraph they way that they embraced the Internet, Chaos Magick would have be created 100 years prior.

Beliefs

First, it is difficult to make claims about the “average” Chaote. Indeed, no such thing exists. Despite this certain assumptions can be made about the common threads that hold all Chaote together.
The Chaote believe that there is no such thing as an objective truth. That everything is determined by a point of view. For this reason the Chaote embrace such disparate fields of science and philosophy such as Taoism, quantum physics, and Jungian psychoanalysis. Of course chaos math is another prime field of study for the chaote. Many in fact derive their incantations and magical effects from such works.
Chaos magic tries to avoid the things that define the other Traditions or philosophies, or a least using them the exact same way. Athames could be sharp for example, to the horror of most traditional Wicce, or using “made up” gods and rituals. To the Chaote, Cthulhu is just as real as Yaweh or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The Chaote believes that their magic should work and therefore it does. An interesting side effect of this is that chaos magic is less effected by the crowd effect if there is a suitable and logical explanation can be offered. An elemental fire display is explained away by a ruptured gas line. If someone sees a “demon” then they are sure that they heard about someone filming a horror movie on the radio. Another effect is that people will tend to believe the Chaote is nothing more than a “street magician” or some sort of illusionist ala David Blaine. Effects will be explained away as slight of hand, or a trick with mirrors.
The Chronicler should decide whether or not the crowd effect is negated (can it be explained away) or do they not lose as much Essence.

Ritual, Essence and Chaos
The Chaote is typically fond, or even required, to use rituals and traditions mixed together. So a traditional rite is often followed by a “spell” found in a science book, and ending in a Gnostic or Taoist (maybe both) rite while invoking a fantasy god. The Chaote believes that they work and therefore it does.
They believe Essence comes from within and ritual is only used to focus the mind, there is no inherent energies within the ritual itself. The ultimate goal of the Chaote is to produce magical effects without the need of any rituals. A state they describe as maximum entropy. It is by returning to this primordial chaos that they are able to obtain the peak of the their spiritual and magical evolution.

Spirits and Gods
The individual Chaote may believe in many gods, goddess, spirits or what have you, or even none at all. No particular gods or goddesses though are unique to them. They have adopted various deities, notably various ones of litature and science fiction. The works of H.P. Lovecraft and Micheal Moorcock are among the favorite. Many Chaote have even adopted Moorcock’s “chaos wheel” or “chaos star” as part of their personal symbol.
They do share the belief in Cardea as Goddess of the Internet with the Wicce TechnoPagans. They will even sometimes share a belief in the modern parody religions, such as Church of the Sub-Genius or the Pastafarians.
Despite this nature of chaos, the Chaote is no more prone to worship a Mad God than any other person and they are no more or no less susceptible to taint.

The Number 8

For the Chaote, the number eight, the Octarine, is the most magical number, not seven. Of course eight is the number of arrows of the chaos star it is also represents the number of “magical colors” the Chaote believes in. The Chaote will use these colors to focus their magic workings. They believe that eight is the true number of raw pure magic. There is of course a certain level of arrogance in this. While everyone else believes the proper number is seven the Chaote believes that it is actually one more than that. For this reason the extra essence normally reserved for 7 casters needs to have 8 Chaote casters. Seven chaote casters only produce 90 points of extra essence, but 8 will produce 115 points. Chaote casters with other traditions can not contribute extra essence when there are only seven casters due to their beliefs. Other numbers of casters are unaffected.
Colors: Black – death magic, necromancy. Blue – controlling people. Red – war and combat. Yellow – Ego magic or magic associated with the self. Green – love. Orange – mental magic and thoughts. Purple – sex magic.

Characters
Attributes, Qualities, Drawbacks and Skills: Chaote come from a variety of backgrounds and points of view but a few things are common. Nearly all are college educated and many come from middle-class backgrounds. Their natures tend to lend them to more “free spirited” professions; artists, authors, graphic designers, musicians, actors, and so on. Again, saying something is “typical” for a Chaote is problematic at best; dangerous at worse.

Metaphysics: The Chaote considers all magic worth learning. Magic then becomes their personal philosophy of how they relate to the universe. Invocations then are most used. Seer Powers and Necromancy are also learned, but these usually require prescribed skills that the Chaote may not have or see the value of. Divine Powers are, unless deemed necessary by the Chronicler, off limits. Again, exceptions are the rule.
Chroniclers may want to impose an added cost of 1-2 extra metaphysics points per level of some types of metaphysics. This offsets the access the Chaote has, but represents their different paradigm of learning.

Special Abilities: Chaote, also due to their nature gain a +1 to any one knowledge based skill of their choice, expect for Occult Knowledge. Common examples would be a bonus in artistic skills, or math. Typically this relates to how they came to their own specific points of view of their Chaos Magic.

Other Associations
Most associations believe the Chaote to some new sort of Solitary (partially true) or one of the Wicce bastard children (also partially true). Most of the attitudes are predictable. The Wicce tend to have the most positive point on view with regards to the Chaote, though they disagree with way they interpret philosophy, not the philosophy themselves. Rosicrucians look down on the Chatoe as amateurs, often referring to them as “Wikipedia Witches” due their connections with the internet and their habit of throwing everything together. They are interested in their methods though. Their seemingly random, and “unskilled” approaches to arcane research and to their use of Invocations baffles the Brotherhood. Confusion and ignorance are not things the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross enjoys. Sentinels have the widest variation of attitudes. Most think they are children playing at miracles and are at best annoying or at worse troublesome. Others see them as deluded souls taping the power of a great primordial evil.
What the Templars think about this group is at present, unknown. Most of the other associations (the Storm Dragons, the Mockers) are only peripherally aware of the Chaos Mages. Some have tried to study with the Storm Dragons, but ones to date have not had the attention span to complete their training (from the point of view of the Storm Dragons).

Chaos Magick - Invocations
To date most Chaote have only been able to replicate other invocations and some necromancy. Though constant debate and discussion on whether or not they will be able to create their own forms of invocations. In theory they should be able to re-create any magical effect and more.

The Never Was for Unisystem (and maybe other games)

Note:  This actually started out as a typo over on the Eden Studios message boards.
Someone (sorry forgot who) asked "What was the greatest monster that never was" but had meant to ask "what was the greatest monster that ever was".  Or something to that effect.  So I decided that the greatest monster was "The Never Was", a manifestation of the fear, uncertainty and doubt that can plague someone.  This can be used in any game, but was written with Unisystem and Ghosts of Albion in particular in mind.

The Never Was

“Fear? We have demons aplenty for that. The Never Was has a subtler palette but is no less of a threat.”
- From the Journal of Tamara Swift

Life is beset with obstacles, roadblocks and some outright tragedies. A promising young doctor has to drop out of medical school to care for her elderly father. A car accident cuts short not a life, but the career of an aspiring musician. An unexpected pregnancy keeps a young couple from moving out of state to pursue a dream job.
These things are not uncommon and most times they are random and beyond the control of the people involved. Sometimes they are even the crossroads people need.

Such is not the concern of the Never Was.

The Never Was is a manifestation, not of our fears, but of our doubts, insecurities, and hesitations. Those moments of “could I?”, the decisions that later lead us to question the alternate. It, for an “it” it is, feeds on these doubts, these moments of regret that people inflict on themselves and thus cause us to doubt all our actions. Whether it is a demon, a type of faerie or something more primal is unknown.

The Never Was in Your Game
Anytime a character regrets a decision or hesitates on an important choice the Never Was can manifest. The more important the individual, ie the more effective their choices have (such as the Cast on the rest of the world) the more likely they are to be its prey.

Once manifest the Never Was often appears as a paragon. It is everything the character wants to be but isn’t due to their own doubts. Buffy would see the Never Was as competent Slayer, firm in her duty and resolve. Others would see similar paragons of themselves. The Never Was seeks to undermine the Cast in their own rolls, make their uncertainty and doubt grow. All the time it feeds on these negative emotions.

As it feeds, it causes more and more doubt. For every Act, the Never Was preys on the Cast a Willpower roll (doubled) is required to make any but the most basic of decisions. For every failure, all future checks are at a cumulative -2. This will progress until the end of the episode.  (This could also be a Will save at -2 for d20).

Defeating the Never Was
The Never Was is easily manifest, and just as easy is the way to defeat it. The Cast members must remove their own doubts. This is not though accomplished as easy. Usually, this is accomplished in a symbolic way; the defeat of some enemy that has bested the Cast before. It could be completing a difficult social task, such as finally getting the never to ask a particular guess star on a date and getting them to accept.

The Never Was is not a combat creature. It’s ability scores are always that of the character it is emulating, only greater. The Never Was though is not without weaknesses. For all it’s the power it is an empty creature, hollow. Getting it to face its own inadequacies will cause it to feed on itself. By this, it means usually having the Cast confront their own weakness (which is also in the Never Was) and turning it into their strength. The quiet, shy Cast member still has her friends. The dumb, combat character has a heart of gold or is loyal. The hesitant character still makes the right choices in the end.

Defeating the Never Was should be an affirmation of the character’s will to continue their good fight, or just their will to live.

Essentials. D&D 4, Phase 2.

I picked up the new Essentials book, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, yesterday.  I'll pick up the Rules Compendium a bit later.  First I want to see is Essentials is the way to go for D&D4.  So far it looks like it is.

There is a lot going on in HotFL.  First there is a thin meta-plot running through all the new D&D books; once the world was great and powerful, but now great kingdoms have fallen and the world is slowly emerging from darkness.  It is a neat idea, but to do it in my own games I'd figure out what exactly happened.  I like what WotC did with the Realms, maybe I'll try something like that. It is like Blackmoor after the global shift, or Krynn after the Cataclysm or even Greyhawk after the Rain of Colorless Fire.  But until then let's talk about what I do have and so far that is just HotFL and the "Red Box". HotFL picks up where the Red Box leaves off, but one can start here as well.

HotFl gives us four classes, Cleric, Fighter, Rough and Wizard.  There are "builds" for each, which remind me a lot of the old 2nd Ed AD&D "kits". All the classes have a build and the Fighter has two, Knight and Slayer.  The Cleric/War Priest also has two Domains (from 3rd and 4th Ed).  So my first reaction is that this D&D is trying invoke memories of older editions.   The next book in the line, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, gives more classes, druids, paladin, ranger (with two builds),  and the warlock. So I am certainly going to pick that up.  The roles (striker, defender, leader and controller) are still around, but their role seems a bit diminished.  In fact they are only mentioned in terms of what they do in combat, not much else.

There is some recycled art here, that is fine, and some new art as well. The big thing here is how the rules have been re-laid out.  Melee and Ranged attacks are presented now in the same format as an "at-will" power.  While not exactly, it is good to see this.  Also included are bull rush, attacks of opportunity and grab.  Brings everything inline nicely.

The main races are still here.  There is still the Eladrin-Elf split and Halflings look more and more like Kender everyday, but this should please most everyone except for the gnome fans.  Races get a bonus to one stat and a choice of a second stat.  Seems ok to me.  Makes the races a touch more flexible I think.

In general character creation is streamlined and made easy.  Now like many old-time players I never had an issue with D&D character creation in any edition, but there is a new level of clarity here that I really like.  Alignments are more streamlined, though they are the same as the D&D4 PHB ones.  I do miss "Chaotic Good" and "Lawful Evil" I just don't miss the dogmatic adherence to them.  I like that my devils are now "Evil" instead of "Always Lawful Evil".   There are some more bits on fleshing out your character's personality, but this is D&D not Vampire the Masquerade.  The section on the Gods seems the least changed.  

There is an entire chapter on Powers. Great detail is gone into what powers are, how they work and what happens with them.  A greater distinction is made now between Martial powers and magical ones.  Obviously this is get at the criticisms of "why can my rogue only do this once per day?"
The four classes make up the bulk of the book.  Again I see many similarities here with 2nd Ed AD&D with it's Classes and sub-classes and kits.  So you can be a Fighter, but the type of fighter you are is either a Slayer or a Knight.  Yes Slayers and Knights can also use each other's exploits (Martial based powers).  The powers again a clearer and better explained.

Races come after the classes, which might seem a bit backwards to many, but I'll go with it.  Other than some changes to their bonuses they are mostly the same, even the same art for the most part.  Skills and feats are likewise only tweaked here and there.
There is some equipment listed as well.  But no rituals.

What strikes me most is how much care and attention has been given to re-writes.  Sure there will be many that look as Essentials and say they have all this stuff. And for the most part that is true.  But there is enough changed here and presented in such an ordered fashion that to me at least it was solidly worth the 20 bucks.  It is also a great idea as a gift to that non-roleplaying friend that wonders what it is you do all the time.

So who is this for?

D&D4 has some problems it must overcome first.  The biggest is who should play it followed by why should they choose this over some other game.

The first part is easy really.  The game is aimed at all players.  While the Red Box is firmly aimed at starting players or lasped players, Essentials is for everyone past the Red Box stage.

But that is not Essentials biggest issue.  Essentials is now fighting for a market that is populated by Pathfinder, OSR books (which is still not a majority by any stretch of the imagination) and most of all D&D 4.  Yes, Essentials biggest rival is it's own older brother.

(yes that binder is full (almost) of errata.  What would rather have, a company that never put out errata or one that puts out too much? It also has my favorite bits of various third party products.)

I think it is obvious that Wizards would love to see all "D&D" players, regardless of current system come back and try D&D 4 again, via the Essentials line.  And I also think that their work has been earnest.   I still think that D&D4 is one of the most well designed games of the last 10 years.  By the way, in case you are keeping score, Essentials was released almost 10 years later to the day as D&D 3.0.

While I am not quite crazy enough to suggest this, but I would think it would be nice if the members of the OSR gave D&D4 Essentials a try.  Of course I tell D&D 4 players that they need to play 1st ed AD&D and/or try out one of the clones all the time too.

(the Heir Apparent?)

In the end I give the new D&D 4 credit.  They seemed to have learned from past errors and they have listened to the fans and have tried to build a D&D4 that appeals to most.  Sure some people will hate it, there always are people like that, but I think that if you liked D&D 4 you should like this.

If you want to read more about the new direction for 4e, there is an interview at The Escapist with Mike Mearls.

DriveThruRPG Blog Support - September

To help me thank you the loyal reader, DriveThruRPG has given me a code for you to use over the next month.

The gift code HotAugustGames2010 gives 20% off all products of the following publishers:

Cubicle 7
Dream Pod 9
Fabled Environments
Fat Dragon Games
Goodman Games
Erisian Entertainment  - have not seen their products before, but they look neat.
Generic Universe Publishing
Holistic Design
Kallisti Press - Their "Full Light, Full Steam" is really cool.
Louis Porter Jr. Design
OtherWorld Creations
Palladium Books
Rogue Games
RPG Objects
Savage Mojo

Enjoy!!

D&D4 Essentials Round-up

Ok, D&D 4 Essentials is now out.  I have the "Red Box" Starter and will be picking up the new "Heroes of the Fallen Lands" soon.  With yesterday as World Wide D&D day (and the 10th Anniversary of me picking up the "new" D&D 3.0 Players Handbook) I thought I would see what others are saying about their experiences with the new books.  Now I did not get a chance to play yesterday myself.  Most Game Days I never make it to my FLGS, but usually get a game in here at home.   But some still managed to make it and post some of their thoughts.  Even those that didn't make have something to say.

You have read my thought here and here.  How do others think?  Well I guess it depends on who you ask.

Rob Conley over at Bat in the Attic has review of the starter set, http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/09/essentials-of-d-starter-set.html.  He thinks the team at Wizards gets an A for effort, but more was needed.  I tend to agree with that, but keep in mind that anyone, like myself or Rob, who has a copy of one of the old Basic rules from the 80s is not the target audience here.  I think he sees that as well.   In the end he mentioned the game he played was fun.

Paul at the Hopeless Gamer gives a very detailed review/overview of Heroes of the Fallen Lands,  including comparisons to the D&D 4e books from two-years ago.  http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-d-4th-ed-not-45-heroes-of-fallen.html  Not to spoil the big reveal, but he does it anyway, D&D 4 Essentials is not D&D 4.5.  If you are a D&D4 player now and are on the fence about Essentials, then this is a good read.

Points of Light is a D&D blog that is heavy on the D&D4 content.  Antioch posted his take on the new Essentials as well.  http://daegames.blogspot.com/2010/09/heroes-of-fallen-lands-review.html as well as his earlier post on the Starter Set, http://daegames.blogspot.com/2010/09/essential-impressions.html.  His impression is that this adds a new starting point for players of the game.

And finally Tim Shorts over at Gothridge Manor says, make it you own Game Day and play what you like.  He admits that 4e is not for him but he can see why people like it.   I think his plan to play some Old School games next year is good one.  I think more 4e players should try their hand at a Pre-1985 version of D&D sometime.  http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2010/09/red-box-game-day-or-how-i-learned-to.html

Of course not every likes the new retro-turn of D&D, James and his readers over at The Underdark Gazette point out that Wizards already had a retro game, AD&D 1st ed.  http://underdarkgazette.blogspot.com/2010/09/retro-game-experience.html.

I think through all of this one thing that is clear is that Wizard's attempt to get a "retro experience" is being perceived very differently.   I played the new Essentials.  I liked it, a lot. It felt retro.  But really if I want retro I have the those games already, I bought them when they were new, 4E scratches a different itch.

I am looking forward to hear and seeing more of the new Essentials line, but mostly I am looking forward to just getting down and doing some gaming.

The Dragon and the Phoenix: Episode 3

Episode 3: The Serpent of Destiny 

Episode 2: Dead of Night by ~WebWarlock on deviantART

December 13, 2002 Friday

The cast are transported to the legendary Thebes of the Gods. Here they learn that the god Set has been corrupting Willow with magic for his own nefarious needs. The God Osiris also has issues with Willow. The Goddess Isis intercedes when they learn that Willow and Tara’s battle with Leviathan was foretold on millennia old cartouches. Isis gives Willow an amulet to protect her from dark magic.

Story Arc and Game Design elements: Willow receives The Ankh to protect her from “dark magic”. Try to make some sense out of “dark magic addiction” to a group that has a collective 90+ years on writing about magic and witches. Do away with magic addiction rules.
Soundtrack: Santana “Black Magic Woman”.

Notes and Comments:I can't tell you how much I hated the magic addiction rules. Well, not the rules themselves, but the concept from the show. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! It was everything I felt went wrong with the show. Playtesting rules for them was like polishing a turd.  We opted for a different metaphor.  We originally wanted to go with Taint from WitchCraft.  But for various reasons we didn't.  I think if I were to do this again I might go with Taint and the Ankh would still draw off the Taint from Willow.  The Ankh plays a greater role in the Willow-centric episode "Shadows in the Rain" later in the season.

We also wanted to add more mythos for other cultures to our game, this is the Egyptian one. Dealt with the whole Osiris nonsense. We began more myth building here and establish that Willow and Tara had been through other lives before and were together then too. Their connection to Leviathan via Set is also established.

Author Kirk Baldridge was one of the people that helped me with the Road Stories ideas and this was his second adventure.  His first was second season episode, Deep in the Heart. 
The cover was designed by Kitten artist Shinnen, whose work I have always liked.  The interior art was done by me and featured some Egyptian cartouches that detailed the events coming up in the series. These disparate events and prophecies became part of the larger Elder Prophecies which has appeared off and on throughout all my games.  Again basically saying that if a world does not have a living Willow and a living Tara it is doomed to be consumed by Leviathan.  Sorry for your world if this not the case. ;)

The plot kicks up next week in Episode 4 where we meet our enemy and Tara becomes a stripper.

What is Old School?

I read a lot of old school and OSR (not always the same thing) blogs.  I admire the passion felt by these players and I can understand where they are coming from even if I can't honestly consider myself part of the "old school movement".  After all what I share with these folks, outside of age, is we all started out pretty much the same.  As the years went by we all tried different games.  The main difference is that these players went back to those older games and I kept going on.

I love my old D&D books, I love my clones, but I also like Pathfinder and D&D4 and a slew of other games that are no where near D&D.  But this all has gotten me thinking.

What is Old School?

Is it just playing an older, maybe unsupported, set of rules?  Is it a DIY thing related to the first point?  Is it objecting to a rules-set? (cause I have to say that by in large the old school crowd seems to bitch more about D&D4 than the D&D4 crowd does about old-school).  Is it doing more with less?

What makes you want to play OD&D or one of it's clones, cousins or copies?

I'll be blunt about my reasons, it's nostalgia, pure and simple.  I like to play the older games because I liked them 20+ years ago.

Tell me your reasons why you play an old-school version of D&D (original print or clone).