Mage: The Ascension | Broken Dharma Lotus | M20

Creating your character

Session Zero is mandatory. Mage is not a game you can build a character for without a conversation first, and I would not want you to. The Paradigm question; what does your mage believe magic actually is, and why does that belief make reality bend, is not a mechanical box to fill. It is the core of who your character is. We build that together. Bring a concept, a philosophical inclination, or a question you want to explore. Curiosity about the system is sufficient. You do not need to arrive knowing your Tradition, your Spheres, or the mechanics of Paradox. I will teach all of it. Players at this table are Orphans first. You Awakened without institutional support and your first sessions reflect that. Tradition affiliation, if it comes, comes through play and through relationships your character builds at the table. No Tradition will be assigned to you. Your Paradigm is yours. Technocracy Operatives are available as a character option for players who want to explore that side of the Ascension War. This requires a conversation at Session Zero. The Technocracy at this table is not a two-dimensional faction. It has internal politics, genuine believers, and people who are trying to protect something real through methods that are genuinely dangerous. That complexity requires a player who wants to engage with it seriously. Nephandi, Infernalist and Marauder characters are not available as player options. This is a hard line. If you are interested in exploring the World of Darkness from a different angle, I also run Bangkok by Night (Vampire: The Masquerade V20) and Werewolf: The Apocalypse W20, Beast Courts of Bangkok.

Preparing for the session

Players need a Foundry VTT account and a Discord account. I pay for all Foundry hosting and provide every other material you will need. Mage: The Ascension M20 uses the Storyteller System. You roll a dice pool of d10s equal to Attribute plus Ability, count successes against a difficulty, and narrate the result. If you have played Vampire: The Masquerade the mechanical foundation will feel familiar. What Mage adds is the Sphere system, the Paradigm, and Paradox. These are the parts I will teach carefully. A note on Spheres: the five-dot scaling of each Sphere is the hinge the entire game turns on. As your Storyteller I carry that knowledge so you do not have to arrive with it. What I need from you is a sense of what kind of magic your mage does. We will work out the Sphere expression of that together at Session Zero and as play develops. Paradox is real at this table and it has teeth. Vulgar magic witnessed by Sleepers accumulates Paradox. Paradox resolves in ways that are rarely convenient. This is not a punitive mechanic. It is the texture of what it means to be Awakened in a world that is mostly asleep. Learning to work within and around it is half the game. This is a morally complex game. Nobody at this table is purely right. The Ascension War has casualties on every side and the thing both factions are afraid of is worse than either of them.

What Yuthika 'Fey' brings to the table

Publishing credits in the World of Darkness line. I hold credits in two W20 books. The World of Darkness is not a system I came to as a player. It is one I helped put on the page. Phil Brucato taught me Mage. I have known the designer of Mage: The Ascension for nearly two decades. I was closely involved in his life during the writing of the Book of the Fallen. The Nephandi and Technocracy at this table have the depth that proximity to the source material produces. Voice acting across every NPC. I am a professional voice actress with anime and video game credits. Every Tradition mage, every Technocracy Operative, every entity your character encounters in the Umbra has a distinct voice and presence. A teaching Storyteller with thirty-four years behind the screen. I hold a PhD in Psychology and work professionally as an educator. Mage is famously difficult to teach. I know how to teach it because I have been doing it for decades and because I understand how people learn complex systems under narrative pressure. A practical effects background applied to Umbral horror. I spent years as a costume designer and VFX artist on NBC's Grimm and taught foam latex and silicone prosthetic work on the convention circuit. When I describe what something in the Umbra looks like, or what Paradox does to a body, those descriptions come from someone who has built the real version with her own hands. I live in Bangkok. The spirit houses, the temple districts, the Chao Phraya at night, the specific texture of a city that holds the sacred and the modern in genuine tension. This is the city I walk in every day.

Homebrew rules

This campaign runs on Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition as its primary rulebook, with the full M20 line in support. The Book of Secrets, How Do You Do That, the Technocracy Reloaded sourcebook, and the Book of the Fallen are the reference material for the NPCs and factions your characters will encounter. These are not decorative shelf items. No homebrew Spheres or Traditions without prior approval. The Sphere system is internally consistent and carefully scaled; additions require care. Paradigm is entirely your own and requires no approval. Your philosophical framework for how magic works is creative territory, not mechanical territory. The Bangkok setting is original. Spirit geography, Chantry locations, Gauntlet topology, and faction presence in the city are my own work built on the M20 framework.

How Yuthika 'Fey' creates a safe table

Your safety matters. Mage: The Ascension deals with reality erosion, loss of identity, moral compromise, the costs of power, and the genuine horror of entities that have chosen corruption as a path. The Nephandi are present in this campaign as antagonists and they carry the weight they are supposed to carry. This is not a game where the darkness is decorative. Here is how we hold all of that. Lines and Veils before we begin. Hard limits respected without question or explanation required. Open Door Policy. Step away at any point. No judgement. Session Zero is mandatory. Not optional. Mage is too important a game to run without establishing the table's philosophical and emotional landscape first. Check-ins during play. Mage sessions can go to heavy places quickly. I check in before we continue after intense scenes. Roses and Thorns at session close. Short debrief every session. Private follow-up after each session. One-on-one check-in by message. This is a game about what it costs to see the world clearly. It should never feel unsafe to play it. When in doubt, say the word.