Welcome To ExMiscellanea
ExMiscellanea is a play-by-post forum game based in a reflection of Providence, Rhode Island, that utilizes a modified version of the ruleset established in White Wolf's World of Darkness genre, Mage: the Ascension, Revised (3rd) Edition. Modifications had to be made to the system and rules due to the drastic differences between a tabletop game and a forum-based game.
The people who have worked on ExMiscellanea, both staff and players alike, wish to create a cooperative storytelling setting in which players are encouraged to branch out and create some of their own, minor plots amongst themselves, while still being given plots by the storytelling staff; the environment we hope to foster is one in which players are not completely dependent on the storyteller's say, but the storyteller still exists to promote balance, fairness, and to settle disputes.
Here at Providence, we do allow multiple characters, all of which have to be approved by the storytelling staff, who will usually be of varying power tiers, an optional, sometimes unique rule in which varying caps and freebies determine what a character's 'base sheet' looks like, before any experience is added over the course of the game. The staff chooses a character's power level, determined by some variables, such as the number of PCs in each tier at the time of submission, the concept of the individual character, and a few other things. This is an unbiased decision, usually discussed among several people before being given to the requesting player.
All in all, we are here to create an enjoyable, personal experience among creative minds, with a focus on the story.
Books Utilized
This game uses the following books:
Mage: the Ascension Corebook, 3rd/Revised Edition:
This is the main book utilized for the mechanics and the character creation process, as well as establishing the setting; the Ascension War was lost, Horizon is a difficult place to reach, and the Avatar Storm has cut off the Masters and Archmages from the material realm. Some things have been changed (for example, the Week of Nightmares occurred in 2005, to make it more relevant), but this largely covers the gist of the mechanics and the systems used.
Guide to the Traditions:
This book contains more of the Backgrounds, including Adversarials, and also covers Paradigm (please, please, please read that section, if you have access to this book) much more deeply, as well as how to build one if you're lost. This also holds more information on the history and the politics of the game that is used in-verse.
The Bitter Road:
This covers politics after the Masters were lost, and thus is being used as an aid for developing the tone of the story, as well as optional rules (like the Sphere training times, separate Backgrounds) and expanding upon the Avatar Storm's effects on mages and magic.
For all things Umbra/Spirit World/Shadowlands/Umbrood, this is the book we're pulling from. Mechanics for crossing over, what is there, how magic functions beyond the Storm, everything.
Forged by Dragon's Fire:
The rules for creating Artifacts, Wonders, Fetishes, Grimoires, Familiars, and Gremlins are all being pulled from this book.
Traditionbook: (Tradition, 3rd/Revised Edition):
The Traditions are largely run as shown in their respective Traditionbooks; this means they have access to Tradition-specific Merits, Flaws, and Abilities (with staff permission, handled case-by-case), and that factions are being utilized if a character has the right backstory and paradigm to be a part of a given faction within their Tradition. Yes, Hollow Ones do have a Traditionbook and are run as such, even though they technically aren't a Tradition.
The staff also utilizes books such as the Storyteller's Handbook and the Storyteller's Companion for alternative systems (like using Arete + Sphere for effects instead of straight Arete).
For other supernaturals, we are not pulling directly from the other World of Darkness gamelines; there are influences, but they are all developed uniquely and independently of their WoD counterpart because of the setting and cosmology.