Getting Started
First, grab a copy of Risus and familiarize yourself with how the system works.
Then, to start making a character for Mage: the Awakening on Risus, just make a regular 10-die (or whatever your GM prefers in the starting cliché department) character. It’s that simple!
If you’d like more flavor, expanded rules, or more explanation as to what is going on here, you should get yourself a copy of Mage: the Awakening. It’s a really pretty book, too. This guide is mainly familiar for people who are familiar with the game who (like me) like a bit of a simpler backend to the system. Also, because I love freeform traits.
Special Mage Clichés
As a mage you have some extra Clichés that you get to allot to your character. The first step is to choose a Path and give your character one die in that Cliché.
- The Acanthus awaken in Arcadia, and are called “Enchanters.” Their ruling Arcana are Fate and Time, while their inferior Arcanum is Forces.
- Mastigos mages awaken in the realm of Pandemonium, and are also known as “Warlocks.” Their ruling Arcana are Mind and Space, and their inferior Arcanum is Matter.
- Moros awaken in the realm of Stygia, the underworld, and are sometimes called “Necromancers.” Apt to their nickname, their ruling Arcana are Death and Matter, while their inferior Arcanum is Spirit.
- The Obrimos, “Theurges,” awaken in the Aether. They have the ruling Arcana of Forces and Prime, and the inferior Arcanum of Death.
- Lastly, the Thyrsus, “Shamans,” awaken in the Primal Wild. Their ruling Arcana are Spirit and Life, and their inferior Arcanum is Mind.
The Path Cliché can be used on rolls involving the character’s Ruling Arcana, and is subtracted from rolls involving the character’s Inferior Arcanum.
Characters can, for free, optionally select an Order cliché at character creation (or, with some roleplaying, during gameplay). Orders are mages’ socio-political organizations, and have their own hierarchies and power structures. There are five main ones given by the game, although a GM could offer their own instead for players to choose from.
The Order Cliché can also serve as a bonus die on a roll to accomplish a task that relates to the Order’s specialization, and also represents the character’s status in the Order such that the number of dies in the Order Cliché would be rolled in an attempt to pull rank or influence other Order members.
- The Adamantine Arrow is a semi-military organizationThe Adamantine Arrow cliché can be used for: Martial combat, martial combat, more martial combat, athletic feats, being intimidating, and, on their softer side, medicine (particularly field medicine).
- The Free Council is the newest of the magical Orders, only about a century old and formed from the dregs of various magical traditions and Apostates, mages not belonging to any Order. They espouse modernity and integration of technology into magic, and generally have a somewhat rebellious, “stick it to the man” attitude.
The Free Council Cliché can be used for: Magic involving technology, telling the Man like it is, rabble-rousing, making cool things, knowing SCIENCE!! - The Guardians of the Veil keep it as their mission to keep knowledge of the supernatural hidden from the rest of the Fallen World, and go to any means to succeed in it. Other Orders consider them to be more than a little sketchy, and some find them not far removed from the Seers of the Throne.
The Guardians of the Veil Cliché can be used for: Assassination, being stealthy, convincing Sleepers that absolutely no magic has occurred her, investigation, and sneaking around. - The Mysterium likes knowledge and magical artifacts, and even more than that, they like keeping them to themselves. Most mages are nerds on some level, but the Mysterium are the nerdiest; they have massive libraries and archives full of magical texts and objects from all around the world. Of course, you shouldn’t underestimate them, either, because they had to get all that stuff somehow, and generally those kinds of things are hidden behind several layers of magical booby traps.
The Mysterium Cliché can be used for: Knowing obscure magical trivia, figuring out how magical artifacts work, research, and surviving hostile territory and complicated death traps. - The Silver Ladder is the ruling class of mages, if such a thing exists.
The Silver Ladder Cliché can be used for: Political maneuvering, smooth-talking, making speeches, back-door dealing, and convincing other people that you’re right and that they should listen to you.
One can also choose to the an Apostate, a mage without an Order. This may get you looked at with some suspicion in some places, and affords you no extra benefits.
As a mage you also have something called Gnosis, which is how learned you are in the ways of the supernal. All mages start with one die in Gnosis, and can gradually increase their score in it as time goes on. Gnosis also changes how high of ratings your character can have in the Arcana (see the page on Magic).
Gnosis is also a rating of whether you can cast magic or not. In Risus Mage, you either have Mana (your magical fuel source) or you don’t; if you run out of dice in Gnosis, you’re out of Mana unless you have dice left in Hallow (see Additional Mage Clichés, below).
Additional Mage Clichés
Sanctum (Size, Security)
A mage’s sanctum is their study/laboratory/library/secure lodging place. They’re often set up around a Hallow (see below) and are a place where a mage can work without intruding Sleepers or potential attackers. They’re usually secured with wards. They can also be shared with friends or a cabal, in which case the sanctum’s total rating is the pool of dice put into it. These dice are divided into size and security. Size accounts for how large and lavish the sanctum is; security establishes the difficulty for anyone attempting to find/break into it.
Hallow
A Hallow is a naturally-occurring source of Mana, the source of a mage’s power. For every die in Hallow, a mage may add an extra die to a roll during the session. You may only use one at a time, and once it’s gone it’s gone until the next session. Mana reserves from a Hallow can be used even if a mage has lost all of his or her Gnosis dice in challenges.
Library
Libraries are compendiums of information relating to magical topics that mages own. Dies in library can add to research rolls; the number of dies in library indicates how many different topics the library covers. If a topic is covered, you get an extra die on finding information on the topic.
Artifact
Artifacts are magical items of great power that do cool things and are sometimes dangerous. An Artifact’s rating/value in dice is the highest arcana rating of its effect(s) plus one for every other arcana involved. Artifacts are purchased differently than other clichés in that they are generally found during play as part of the plot or purchased at character creation as something given to the character by a mentor, etc., but can also be constructed by the character him- or herself, at the cost of the number of dice in the artifact.
Artifacts contribute the number of dice that is their value to their use, which more or less ensures that the effect will succeed.
Destiny
Destiny means that you’re meant for something super-important, for better or for worse. Destiny dice can be added at will to any roll (as many out of the total as one likes). The drawback is that there is one person/situation/thing that serves as the character’s bane; against them, dice pools are penalized by the number of dice in Destiny the character possesses.
Dream
Dream is a connection to the primordial consciousness. Or something. In any case, when a character needs to know a skill or come up with a piece of information, a character with Dream can connect to the hive consciousness and pull stuff out of it.
Willpower
One Willpower can be added to any roll, at the cost of one Willpower die. It represents a mage’s ability to overpower the universe and do the impossible. (Or at least the implausible.)
Now that you’ve got a character put together, now let’s give them some magic.