Setting and other game info

Setting
The Game starts in 2013 on the Marquesas Keys A small group of islands set at the end of the tourist keys. From WWII to the 1980's it was used as a military testing ground. In the 80's it was transferred over to the national parks service on a twenty year lease. At the end of that lease the government sold the island to a wealthy industrialist, with the understanding that he would develop the island in a ecologically friendly manner.
Ground breaking on his ambitious project started in 2007 and took three years to complete. The resort was lauded as a technological marvel, with some of the newest and advanced technologies going into its construction. It uses solar, wave, wind and backup hydrogen power to be completely power independent. It also has a revolutionary rain water collection and purification system with rooftop gardens and fruit trees integrated into the resort to reduce its carbon footprint due to bringing in food. The resort opened in the middle of the worst recession since the great depression to lackluster tourist numbers.
The resort is full service but surprisingly affordable despite having a world class staff. Some have said that its lack of success is due to some of the more bizarre aspects of the resort, there is no cell tower on the island nor is there an underwater phone line to the island leaving the only methods of communication as satellite phones and radio. there is also no land route to the island and boats and a regular barge travel are the only methods of travel to the island.
The entire island is owned by one person so there is no personal ownership of land on island, it would take an independent resources of three to live on the island with no "job". Mostly people who live on the island also work on the island E.G. Entertainment, fitness instructors, service personell, etc. the only exception to the rule is a group of people who live and work on a independent boat, The Mighty Hermione that is constantly in harbor, a replica sailing ship from the revolutionary war era which is the studio and broadcast tower for Island rebel radio home of DJ Xero luck.

Something important to keep in mind when viewing peoples profiles on the forum. I cannot change the date on the forum, so even thought we are playing in 2013, the forum marks the date as 2010. This means that all characters are 3 years older than their profile says.

We have a new section at the top header called gallery where pictures can be posted. Curently i am using it for any minor npc's who have yet to deserve a user name. this consists of mainly island workers and chantry retainers.

Part of the map im creating sorry for the cropped ness just click on it and it should get big.
in

Are there bridges between the little islands/
ThorsSmith (10:54:50 PM): some of them, it may be hard to see where the bridges are but i have drawn them in on the islands that have them
ThorsSmith (10:59:57 PM): i guess i should say that the green is sand at low tide and water at high tide
Raistlin Rahl (11:02:48 PM): And the tan?
ThorsSmith (11:03:27 PM): is mainly corall with some sand and dirt in areas where there is mangrove and palms
Raistlin Rahl (11:05:28 PM): Soo.. less Tropical island e.g. Lost... and more desert island?
ThorsSmith (11:07:23 PM): http://c0170361.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/6742_6412_2a43273334_p.jpg
Raistlin Rahl (11:09:10 PM): So.... it's a sea-bound swamp, that turns into a desert island, and then back into the swamp?
ThorsSmith (11:10:00 PM): yeah thats a fair description, the desert part is the dead corrall that is now above sea level, it makes up most of the islands solid parts
ThorsSmith (11:10:31 PM): http://www.trailoffloridasindianheritage.org/Site_19_Mound_K_group_tour.jpg
ThorsSmith (11:10:33 PM): http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wFFF0ePg3Ts/Swzgw3dyzyI/AAAAAAAAAOY/sNCKtpky6Gs/s1600/walk.JPG
ThorsSmith (11:10:46 PM): http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3152258.jpg
Raistlin Rahl (11:10:47 PM): So, you can see clear across the island during the day.
ThorsSmith (11:10:52 PM): no
ThorsSmith (11:11:19 PM): see last picture, it can get pretty tall on the larger islands
ThorsSmith (11:14:39 PM): so lost like with large swaths of no trees but also large swaths of trees
Raistlin Rahl (11:15:20 PM): Are your buildings to scale?
ThorsSmith (11:15:42 PM): im not sure, they are roughtly to scale of each other
Raistlin Rahl (11:16:06 PM): Actually, just looking at this, there's no way they're to scale.
Raistlin Rahl (11:16:13 PM): Youre lighthouse would be the size of a football field.
ThorsSmith (11:16:37 PM): but im not sure about the to scale of the map i was having a hard time figuring out how to have a scale bar floating around to check things in photoshop
Map retrofiting underway

You aught to throw these pictures up in the Galley. It should be the main on or else I'd do it.

Mage: Yesterdays Dreams
Type: A character driven/sandbox game
Game: Mage
Setting: Island, Florida keys
Mindbender Level: 4 I’m looking for a level of involvement and seriousness from the players, as well as a desire to explore the possibilities of the mage system.
Internal DR: 2 I do not plan on forcing much emotional trauma on the characters keep in mind though if you go looking for snakes you might find them.
External DR: 3 this will be a world of darkness game and you will probably come across all types of disturbing and crazy shit as well as having to deal with other supernatural beings hence the 3
Minutia: 2 I’m not going to worry much about how much a cup of coffee costs and whether you can afford it. If you want to have anything on your person that is not on your character sheet you can roll a relevant dice pool to have it etc.
Realism: 4 when you are not warping the universe with your super cosmic power physics and other laws of nature still apply don’t try killing a helicopter with a car using just your dex drive.
Character Requirements: Mentor (need not be present), Avatar, Past Life merit or throwback flaw 1-5pt (must be spent with character creation points but does not count against merit flaw totals.)
Available Traditions: Cult of ecstasy, Dream speakers, Euthanatos, Order of Hermes, Sons of Ether, Verbena,

Mindbender: This represents what I would like the player to bring to the “table” in the sense of intellectual involvement. In a game like D&D you can look up in a book how do the things you want to do, the higher level will make the game/universe malleable to not only the character but the player (hopefully)
X No level of character internalizing e.g. beer and pretzels
0
00 Use of personal intellect to find the boundaries of the rules and abilities e.g. D&D magic munchkining.
000 You are engaging your personal intellect to push and engage the boundaries of magic e.g. Epic level D&D magic the edges are squishy
0000
00000 You know your character inside and out and her moral quandaries are your moral quandaries (boundaries of reality are illusory, there is no spoon everything is malleable within your ability to mold it.

Darkness Rating (DR)
X Nothing depressing nothing scary very little chance of death and dismemberment e.g. G rated
0 Some adult content, the character will deal with death and strife PG
00 Moral conundrums and the realities of the world are apparent pg13
000 Death for characters is a reality and it can go beyond physical; mental and emotional damage is likely R
0000 A plethora of gore, death, and emotional trauma, e.g. A deep Cthulu game, a great horror movie NC 17
00000 Abandon all hope ye who enter here, intense horror and disturbing imagery. Fucked up.

Minutia
X you always have backup ammo and cash in your pocket, weather is never more than an annoyance
0 Don’t sweat the little stuff
00 you have what is reasonable for your character to have occasional rolling may be called for
000 Keep track of your stuff and its weight
0000 If you don’t have it on your character sheet you don’t have it, make sure your carrying capacity both weight and volume.
00000 Did you have enough water and calories today to keep from starving?

Realism and your perception of it.
X Total fantasy world laws of nature and physics do not apply.
0 Laws are meant to be broken, apocalyptic movies e.g. day after tomorrow
00 Things are a little more solid, most major action movies.
000 Sure John McClain is real at least from die hard one, your average cop movie.
0000 Your average TV drama
00000 A car crash, infection, gunshot wounds, a 2x4, disease, VD, 10 foot fall, 2 foot ditches, and lots of other

For those of you more familiar with second edition WOD i have a few modifications to the timeline and other goings on. Mainly the "week of nightmares" did not happen. Ravnos did not awake the red star did not appear in the sky of the umbra and the avatar storm was never created, the gauntlet did not harden further and everyone is not freaking out even more than they usually do about the apocalypse. There is no truce between the convention and the Council of nine and The council chantry of Horizon was not destroyed. So please as you are reading and postulating on how your Mage fits into the greater cosmology keep this in mind.
Thank you