Our new Mage: The Awakening campaign, Asleep No More, is underway! You can check out most of the vital information and the session log over to the right, under it's State of Play. It's been a minute since we updated the campaign logs on the site, but now we're back with a vengeance!
We started developing a background for the area we are now calling the Southwest with the Smokefall Ridge campaign a few years ago. Though that campaign for World of Darkness is set in 1876, this new campaign is set in 2013, just a short distance from Smokefall Ridge. It's just part of the overall development of our setting, which I'm happily calling South by Southwest.
On to Dallas! Our campaign is set in modern day Texas, centered on the Awakened Free City of Dallas and it's mages. We'll have more crunchy info on Dallas next week, but the basics can be seen on the campaign page. In short, it's the refuge of the Free Council in North America, and it's Awakened politics reflect this. There's set to be some interesting and dynamic interplay between the Orders of the Pentacle, but outside threats and rivals encroach upon the Free City in numbers not seen since the Unseen War.
Yet, what do i mean the Southwest? Wikipedia defines it as mostly New Mexico and Arizona, but my definition includes Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. For our purposes, it does not include California, Colorado, Utah or Nevada. That's a little arbitrary, but I want to keep it tight and focused on what I know. Those other states I consider to be part of the West, not the Southwest.
The new World of Darkness is rich with a lot of potential. We had a "weird west" campaign, but now we're getting to the meat of it with the mages. They have always been my favorite "supernatural" and the theriomorphs and vampires will add color as antagonists. The game's engine can be focused on any sort of trope, from superhero to Cthulhu mythos. The new books, as I've said before, are wonderfully organized, organic and easy to teach to newcomers.
So, what's in store for South By Southwest? Well, other than our kickoff Mage campaign here, we'll be returning to 1876 for more Smokefall Ridge action. There will also be a scattered amount of campaigning as mortals in the modern day, and plenty more Mage action in the years to come. All in all, I hope it develops as much as any other campaign setting we've dreamed up - and our players in this new campaign have really given a lot to developing the area.
We've adopted a less restrictive session model where in addition to roleplaying in real time, we are also studying the backgrounds and relationships of our new player characters. However, soon "school for wizards" will be over, and the players will be on their own! So, study those Arcanum and get ready to meet the Consilium this Sunday.
See you on Game Day!