We received several questions from a listener regarding Settings in Mage for techno magi. Adam answered the question during the Tomes of Magick: Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood episode. We were so delighted with the question that we included it on our blog.

Have a question about Mage? Email us, and we’ll answer you on our blog and our podcast.

I have a majority of the Mage books in my collection, but there is always something that bothered me.

Let’s say you are a Virtual Adept, Society of Ether, or Technocrat with Correspondence 2/3. The rules state you can see far off places. Great. Now, if you are on your own, you could say, “I looked at a CCTV feed I hacked into.” Or a cellphone camera. Great.

But two questions arise.

If another player is looking over your shoulder at your computer, what does she see? Static? Matrix-style code? If you had Forces, you could make your monitor show what you “see” via Correspondence. But if not, it seems a bit tricky.

You observe someone remotely using correspondence 2/3. To you, it is because you hacked into an orbital spy satellite or CCTV, etc. What happens if you later find out that there was no CCTV there? Are you forced into quiet? A Seeking?

Thanks for the interesting question. As with many things in Mage, the Storyteller has a lot of leeway in portraying this.

Question 1: If another player is looking over your shoulder at your computer, what does she see? Static? Matrix-style code? If you had Forces, you could make your monitor show what you “see” via Correspondence. But if not, it seems a bit tricky.

Mage has always allowed a flexible relationship between foci and effects. For example, if a mystic used Correspondence to perceive a distant place, he might close his eyes and see the scene play out as a “vision” in his mind. He could see and hear it, but no one else could. Another mystic might make it appear in a pool of water. Now, someone standing behind the second mystic can watch it too. The first mystic, the one playing visions in his head, can use a Forces effect to create light and sound to play the scene out as a hologram to a group of people standing in the same room. The second mystic asks people to gather around the pool of water and see. Not the same, is it? Different styles and different foci bring different results. The mystic who plays visions in his head has the advantage of privacy. It’s harder for spies to observe the results of his scrying. The mystic with the pool of water has the advantage when he wants to share information with others — but he always wonders if there’s a spirit spying on him quietly.

When Mage was created in 1993, this flexibility in interpreting Sphere effects was supposed to be fun for Storytellers and players. In later years, many people approached Mage with more detailed rules and results in mind.

So, what about technology-using mages? The player and Storyteller need to work out the techno mage’s style. When the mage does this kind of effect, what is the focus? It sounds like the focus is the computer.

However, this is open to interpretation.

Option #1: Did the Virtual Adept create software that resides online and gathers data from multiple sources? Then the result of the Correspondence effect is text on her screen. You see, the limited AI the Adept created collects data from video cameras far away, motion sensors, security guard phone calls, etc. The AI creates a summary in text and sends it to the Adept. The Adept may be paranoid about Technocracy spies. The text sent is encrypted. The Adept is so used to the encryption that a roll isn’t needed. The spy standing behind the Adept sees only gibberish on the screen.

Advantage: the Adept can spy on people where there are no cameras. The AI gathers data from so many sources. Some teenager’s drone may have motion sensors or temperature sensors. The neighbor’s security system (next door to the spying target) may pick up bits of data the AI can interpret.

Disadvantage: Less detailed info in the text summary.

Option #2: The Adept uses Correspondence, but the player tells you they link directly to security cameras far away. If the roll fails, there were no security cameras there (or they weren’t working). Now in this example, if the target the player is trying to spy on is at a place where there aren’t any security cameras, the Storyteller may tell the player, “You don’t even get to roll. Your Correspondence effect just isn’t going to work. Sorry, the NPC’s private home doesn’t have any cameras at all. Your focus limits you in this case.” Anyways, if the Correspondence effect works, the spy behind the Adept watches the video play out on the Adept’s monitor.

Advantage: More detailed info.

Disadvantage: No cameras on the scene, the effect fails.

To summarize, the player and the Storyteller need to work out ahead of time how exactly the character does his Correspondence effects. It should be noted that my examples were quite detailed. If the Storyteller wants to be more informal, say Option #1 and Option #2 have no advantages over each other. They both work equally well. However, Option #1 is text on a monitor. Option #2 is a video that plays on the monitor.

Question 2: You observe someone remotely using correspondence2/3. To you, it is because you hacked into an orbital spy satellite or CCTV, etc. What happens if you later find out that there was no CCTV there? Are you forced into quiet? A seeking?

In both old-school and new-school Mage, players are encouraged to tell the Storyteller what, specifically, the character is doing to make the effect happen. If you want to have a quick, informal approach, the player can say, “Correspondence 2. I rolled three successes. What do I learn?” The Storyteller does more work here. The Storyteller should decide what the player is doing in the game world and what the players sees/hears.

Most Mage players I’ve talked to have some chats where the Storyteller and players work out some details on what their characters usually do to make effects happen. Style, focus, etc. From there, the Storyteller has a sense of how to handle things.

Now, here’s a question to you: Do you want to get into the more profound ideas baked into Mage? Mages use foci to channel their enlightened will. As time goes by, they increase their skill and enlightenment. A day comes when the focus isn’t needed anymore. The mage’s enlightened will is more than computers, software, and CCTV cameras. You could play out a scene in your game where the Adept assumes there are cameras almost everywhere. Just do the effect. It should work. It does. Carry one.

However! Later, the Adept learns a magnetic pulse by Technocrats shut down all cameras — all electronic devices — that day. The Adept’s effect just couldn’t have used any electronic device. So what happened? How did her effect work when it couldn’t have worked? What is going on here? A mystery to unravel. Dig into what lies beneath Mage’s core concepts. It might be fun.

I hope my material is helpful to you.