Most probably, I will not be in town this weekend to run our Mage campaign. Some of you might still want to play with your characters or earn experience though, so I will leave you with an opportunity if you want to take it. Before our next meeting, you may write a short story about your character here for experience. Length is immaterial, and what you write could be as short as a paragraph or as long as you like (but do skip lines between paragraphs). You may write it as a narrative or as a description. The experience criteria will be as follows:
1 experience for establishing or demonstrating your character's virtue
1 experience for establishing or demonstrating your character's vice
1 experience for establishing or demonstrating an emotion that your character exemplifies
1 experience for establishing an interesting contact, mentor, or rival who I might later involve in the chronicle
1-2 experience for coolness factor
2 arcane experience for making a good effort
To get you started, here are some ideas. Feel free to make up your own if you decide to participate.
Who is Ian Friendly, where is he from, and why did he move to Chicago? What would a sermon from Rev. Bill be like? Has Rev. Bill ever given into temptation with a member of his congregation?
How did Entomodon get his healing ring? What does he think about his father's disappearance five years ago? Who else did he leave behind? Where did he pick up such an amazing knowledge of the occult?
What's the deal with Shortcut's sister's new boyfriend? She refuses to being him home and mom is worried. What is his PhD. advisor like? Does he share his new insights with him or her?
Casper's parents (what are they like?) are trying to get access to Alex after finding out that he survived the disaster in Birmingham, AL. Randy is willing to act secretly for Casper. Will he help them? Will he let them know that he is also alive? Why or why not? What is Mark, Casper's former squadmate and good friend, like?
An example:
When Antony Gonzales was in SF training, he had to do a few RvB training battles. During this particular event, Sgt. Warren was on the opposing team. Now Warren had been in boot camp with Ant, and in fact had shown up (or beaten up) Ant on many occasions. Ant was still stewing over this, and he knew when teams were assigned that he might soon have his chance for revenge: Warren was on the opposing team.
Ant was assigned to sneak through the woods to the enemy's forward command post, where he would take a few pictures and return. He planned his moves carefully and made pains to move with great stealth. With his magic aiding him, he in fact managed to get a little closer than a normal person would have ever wanted to.
He was creeping back through the woods when the rain started. This was good, he thought: he wouldn't need to maintain his spells quite so vigilantly. He relaxed a little, and kept moving. He saw some lights in the woods ahead. This was near a road, so he willed himself invisible once again and approached. He saw a sight that elated him: three reds in a jeep, one of whom was Warren. They waited in the middle of the road brandishing paintball guns, scanning the woods. Ant wondered what this patrol expected to find. Maybe, he thought, maybe they were watching for the saboteur who disabled the power supply at the command post to pass.
Ant looked to the sky. He saw the fury of the brewing storm. He knew that it would bow to his will. Then, he became burning vengeance, striking his rival. For a time, there was silence in the woods. Ant emerged from his cover. He checked their pulses: they were burned, but still alive. He sent a radio transmission from the jeep to the red base: three men down from a freak of nature. Revenge was sweet, but there was no need to take this too far, you know? Even so, he nabbed a codebook before he left to report home.
To this day, no one can figure out how Sgt. Steve Warren managed to use the radio so calmly after being struck by lightning.
