The Evil Rabbit אמר/ה:
מישהו מוכן להסביר לנוב ובור כמוני על מה המשחק הזה מספר? כלומר, על העולם ועל הדש"ים? (מה הם בדיוק משחקים?) אני יודע מה הרעיון של "עולם האפילה", אבל כל משחק של עולם האפילה אמור להציג זווית ראייה חדשה, לא? אגב, גם זאת שיטה שמבוססת על אימה? (יודע, יודע,, אני נאב. אז?)
המשחק מתרחש בעולם האפילה- עולם בו רוחות (הן Spirits והן Ghosts), זאבי-אדם, ערפדים, מג'ים ויצורים רבים אחרים אורבים בחשיכה וחיים בינינו.
ב-Mage, אתה משחק אחד מאותם מג'ים אנשים אשר התעוררו (ולפיכך קוראים להם Awakened) לעובדה שהמציאות היא לא מוחלטת (בדומה למה ששאר בני האדם חושבים) היא ניתנת לכיפוף, עיצוב ושינוי (למען האמת, ניתן לעשות כמעט הכל עם מערכת הקסם של המשחק).
מאחר והשיטה כל כך רחבת היקף (ועדיין לא ידוע הכל עליה), אני לא אתחיל לפרט כאן הכל- אני ממליץ לך לקרוא את הספויילרים באתר של White Wolf, ולקרוא את החלק הבא (זה נראה הרבה, אבל בכל שורה יש בערך 6 מילים):
The sea of time grows murky as one approaches
the distant past. Ruins, artifacts, cave
paintings—all this evidence of history tells an
incomplete tale. Most people never realize that
they don’t know the whole truth, but some can
see that there is more to learn. Those who do,
and who know where to look, eventually discover
a legend of a fallen civilization and a war for the
throne of reality. The names for that civilization
are many, most of them lost over the years, but
even patchwork recorded history remembers one
of them: Atlantis.
Humanity found that mythical place eons ago,
led by dreams more real than their waking sight.
There they learned to see beyond this world to
the Supernal Realms, and what they discovered
in those places set their very souls aglow. By the
power of their thoughts, they learned how to
make what was real in the Supernal Realms real
in this world—to make the impossible possible.
What once could be done only in dreams was
now achievable in the waking world. Indeed,
it seemed only those most enlightened souls
were truly Awake, while everyone else was but
a Sleeper, sharing the same dream.
The Awakened built a glorious civilization
on their sacred island, dividing themselves into
specialized orders of governance and working
together to unravel the Mysteries of the higher
realms. Yet the power they uncovered in unraveling
these mysteries soon outstripped their
wisdom, and they committed a great crime of
hubris. Seeking to abandon the dreaming world
altogether, they constructed a grand celestial
ladder to carry them to the Supernal Realms,
where they overturned the thrones of the gods
and usurped their places. They sought to control
all reality with their thoughts alone, yet Creation
trembled at their every unwise whim. There was
no choice but to cast them down, lest all of reality
be corrupted and sundered. Those Awakened
still left in our world climbed the celestial ladder
themselves and made wizard-war on their
erstwhile brethren, shaking all of Creation. In
the end, the very ladder itself was shattered and
our world fell away from the Supernal Realms,
leaving only an impassable gulf of unreality
known as the Abyss between them.
Yet though the Fallen World was cursed to
fall deeper into Sleep, there are those still who
Awaken. Deep in the Supernal Realms stand
cyclopean watchtowers that even today call brave,
enlightened souls across the treacherous Abyss.
Should a soul survive this journey and carve its
name on one of these watchtowers, that Sleeper
Awakens and inherits humanity’s forgotten
legacy: magic. When he does, it’s up to him to
fi nd those others like himself who have broken
free from humanity’s shared dream and try once
again to fi nd the truths behind the Mysteries of
Creation. And should they uncover the lingering
fragments of lore about lost, fabled Atlantis,
mages must decide whether to re-create the
enlightened civilization those earliest dreamers
forged or build something even better, founded
on the highest ideals of this Fallen World.
You’ve had the sense at some point in your
life that there is more to this world than you
can see. You’ve always known that sinister truths
hide behind a façade of normality, veiled by the
rational, orderly “natural laws” we call science.
When night falls, as the shadows grow long and
the wind whistles through the trees, you shudder
and remember the truths of your ancestors,
who were right to fear the dark. In those times,
you realize just how alone and ignorant you’ve
always been. You feel this way because you’ve
just entered the World of Darkness, where the
shadows hide unimaginable secrets.
In Mage: The Awakening, the third World
of Darkness Storytelling game, you and your
friends tell stories set in this world, in which you
reveal these secrets and unravel the Mysteries of
Creation. Those who do so successfully Awaken
to the greatest mystery of all—that the rules of
reality are not as hard and fast as everyone thinks.
By forging mystical paths to realms beyond the
material world, the Awakened (known as wizards,
sorcerers, and mages) can impose the laws
of those higher realms on this world. Doing so,
they can shed light on what hides in the World
of Darkness and work great wonders tempered
only by their wisdom.
Yet for all their power and insight, the Awakened
are still human, subject to the same failings
and shortsightedness all humanity suffers. They
must temper their wonders with wisdom, lest
the friction between opposing laws of disparate
realities cause an uncontrollable Paradox. Nor
can they cavalierly expose the secrets their
Awakenings reveal to them. Some secrets are
hidden from Sleeping humanity for good reasons,
and it is only the proud, foolish mage who
casts into the light those things best exiled to
shadow. What’s more, a mage does well to keep
his pride in check, as pride goeth before a fall.
There’s always another mage out there with just
a bit more power or who knows just a little more
about what’s hidden in the darkness…