Game Format Discussion

[AleBelly]

I'm happy to defer to more experienced players in this matter.

[Mister-Kent]

I'd vote for Creo as well, but am not too worried if we go another direction.

[Das]

I had an idea. Since I doubt we will get that many people wanting to join the game later..I think there could easily be a way for us to all apprentice the same small group of apprentices. Obviously one of us could be their primary Master, but perhaps the covenant could take on a school like layout. "Today you'll be seeing the Dwarf for your fireball lesson. Or the Animal man is out in the woods collecting berries, once you find him your lesson on nature is over." That way we don't all get overly concerned about maxing out all of our arts so that our apprentices are not handicapped.

[Keehnelf]

Having a 5 in all Arts is actually pretty easy. I'm not opposed to you adopting a Hogwarts-style setup for instruction, however the Code of Hermes does make a specific magus responsible for the development of his or her apprentices, and lineage is important: you pass on not only your House affiliation but also your Sigil (the distinctive mark of how you perform magic) to your apprentice, though they get their own spin on both of these things a bit.

The reason you need to have a 5 in all Arts is that one of the very first things a master does with a new apprentice is make an introduction to the Forms and Techniques (this is called "Opening the Arts"), showing them the basic qualities of each of the 15 Arts and laying out their interrelationships, commonalities, etc. This allows the apprentice to begin learning the Arts either via direct instruction or by study (it gives them a 0 in all 15 of the Arts). If the Master's grasp on one or more of the Arts is imprecise, this will communicate oddities and false information to the student and thus create Deficiencies. At a level of 5, your grasp is good enough to actually inform other people intelligently about them in ways that won't lead them astray down the line.

If you don't have those skills, you can't rely on others to fill in the blanks because if you both have blanks then you end up giving incompatible pictures of magic that conform to your own biases and ignorances, and the apprentice would just end up more confused than enlightened.

[Keehnelf]

Before your caravan with supplies to build the structures that currently exist at the Covenant departed, before the necessary personnel were hired, your five Magi sat around a big stone table and had a long conversation about how the Covenant would be organized, how major decisions would be made, and what the basic ground rules would be.

What did that conversation look like, and what was the end result? Do you have a single leader? Do you make all major decisions collectively? Is it by consensus, or is there voting? Does it cover all aspects of life there, or only magical things?

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On a practical level--if one of you decides you need to build a new building to store some goods you recovered on a journey, how does that happen? Or, if a powerful faerie is discovered near the Covenant, who decides if it should be approached with an offer of peace vs. being driven out or enslaved? Is this by individual decision, based on who acts first? Is there a forum for deliberation?

[Das]

My thought is that we all split up duties amongst ourselves.....Diplomat, Defense, Adminstration, Legal...that kind of thing. I also think we should have a vote policy between our mages to make decisions.

[Keehnelf]

Oh, and to clarify my earlier point about apprentices and the hogwarts-style preparation structure.

I didn't think that you would be limited to ONLY PC apprentices, just that new PCs would enter the game that way as well. So you are welcome to go hunting for an apprentice as soon as you feel confident in your ability to make one. Just remember that an ill-handled apprentice could make an excellent antagonist down the road, given the resources even a bad magus has at their disposal

[Keehnelf]

My life is absolutely bonkers right now, but I'd love to be able to try for a June 1 start date for this game. Does anyone have any problem with trying to hit that target?

Thanks, all!

[Mister-Kent]

Sounds good to me!