Post to look for a new players.

- However, the good point about the dot Abilities is a cap of 3. This chimes well with what we generally agreed before; that level 4 Abilities are 'the best in New England' category and generally should be limited [esp for low-level characters].

- There is also the situation where Spheres often mean little without the appropriate Ability/ies. I've personally seen this in VtM; where people have made characters with [say] Dominate 1/2/3 but lacking the supporting Abilities to actually make them functional. However, the Ability / Sphere utility ratio does depend on the Tradition and style of the mage in question - Nick generally needs her Abilities much more to do Spheres than say, Serge does [at least, I think so].

- The above two reasons is [partly] why they came up with the original creation system and stuck with it, rather than say, melting down all the free dots and turning them into a big pot of freebies to distribute as the player desired. It reduces the ability of players to create min-max PCs.

- Having an ST do this 'limiting' can put some player's backs up, while if the rules do it they'll be fine with. In my experience.

- If you're going to go with 'big dollop of freebies', I would use a ratio of freebie = XP of 1:2. [Some time ago, I worked out the spending power of each, and it's about that]. So if you agree with 30XP being 'enough', they'll get another 15 freebies on top of the 15 automatically granted.

- However, the good point about the dot Abilities is a cap of 3. This chimes well with what we generally agreed before; that level 4 Abilities are 'the best in New England' category and generally should be limited [esp for low-level characters].

I have not put a cap of 3 for others when they make their characters but i expect background explinations for any skills above 3. I would not say 4 dots are best in New England that is 5, 4 is being a really skilled professional. One is a beginner, two means you could earn money on it, three means you are a professional, four means you are an experienced skilled professional and five means you are world class.

There is also the situation where Spheres often mean little without the appropriate Ability/ies. I've personally seen this in VtM; where people have made characters with [say] Dominate 1/2/3 but lacking the supporting Abilities to actually make them functional. However, the Ability / Sphere utility ratio does depend on the Tradition and style of the mage in question - Nick generally needs her Abilities much more to do Spheres than say, Serge does [at least, I think so].

Yes some Paradigms means supporting skills are needed, some do not by letting the player set their own dots where thye want them they can use dots on skills when they feel the character need it, this is nto an argument for not allowing new players to set their extra points where they want them at all.

The above two reasons is [partly] why they came up with the original creation system and stuck with it, rather than say, melting down all the free dots and turning them into a big pot of freebies to distribute as the player desired. It reduces the ability of players to create min-max PCs.

Yes but we are not talking about the creation of a base charater we are talking about allowing the new players some extra points to to fall behind they should be allowed to place them as they want to.

If you're going to go with 'big dollop of freebies', I would use a ratio of freebie = XP of 1:2. [Some time ago, I worked out the spending power of each, and it's about that]. So if you agree with 30XP being 'enough', they'll get another 15 freebies on top of the 15 automatically granted.

15 extra freebies plus a few for a good background and Paradigm description sounds about right.

So attempt two then:

Hi I ST a Mage: The Ascension Play by Post game set in Boston. The game have been running for nearly 6 years now, however after a long time player had to leave I am looking for one or two new players for the game.

The setting is 2 ed, we never had the Avatar Wind and metaplot in Revised happening, we use M20 rules though. The game is high fantasy with allot of Chantries and plitics between said Chantries. The player Characters live at a mixed Tradition Chantry named Steelhaven Hall. So far the Cabal have been dealing with Nephandi plots for two stories and shut down two Labyrinths and now a trip to Horizon is planned for the next story.

The game is mostly investigation and politics based and it is heavy leaning towards roleplaying over combat. There is a strong horror theme though and quite a few horrible things have happened to the player characters and the NPCs, off course personallimits will be respected but be aware that there have both been a good amount of gore here and also quite a bit of personal horror this might not be the game for the most delicate.

You should be aware that I am writing in a second language and I have dyslexia so some spelling and grammar errors will happen, if you can not tolerate this then this is also not the game for you. We try to have a friendly, casual tone to the game. Most of us are currently based in Europe but we welcome players from all over the world if you are ok with the time zone differences.

This is a fairly active game, it would be best if you can commit to posting at least once a day during the weekdays, off course life happens and I completely understand that at times things get in th way of posting, but having it as a goal to post at least once a day would be good.

New characters will be given some extra freebies at character creation to make sure they do not lag to far behind the existing characters. More information about the game, the game world and the other player characters will be given to those that show an interest in the game. Here is a link to the forum we play on, feel free to read a bit in a IC thread to see if this is the kind of game that would be interesting to you:
https://chantrysteelhaven.forumotion.com/

Please feel free to reply to this post or PM me with any questions if you are interested or if you just have questions.

I have not put a cap of 3 for others when they make their characters but i expect background explinations for any skills above 3. I would not say 4 dots are best in New England that is 5, 4 is being a really skilled professional. One is a beginner, two means you could earn money on it, three means you are a professional, four means you are an experienced skilled professional and five means you are world class.

- Not me/you limiting, M20 creation rules limiting. And if 'best in New England' is 5, is 'best in the world' 6? Honestly, I think you're downplaying the true rarity of L4 skill - I remember one old ST guide [can't remember which, but suspect it's VtM] saying basically, 'most NPCs cannot realistically hope to exceed skill 3, but many 'Others' can due to extra abilities, longer lifespans and so on'.

Example; Athletics for example has L4 as basically 'pro athlete'. You know how many 'talented amateurs' [let's call it L3] manage to turn it into a full-time paying job? - around 5%.

Now, if we see L4 as 'pro', well there is perhaps 18k L4's in the UK [meaning that perhaps there's 360k L3s (at least!) in the UK]. If L5 is 'Olympian' - well, the UK is sending 380 of our L5s to Tokyo this summer. Just under 2% of the L4's have managed to get to true L5 status.

Okay, these calculations are just 'fag-packet' quality. But they do at least give perhaps *some* idea of what the intention of the WoD makers had.

Let me put it this way. Nicole's skills look rather meagre when compared to the majority of the characters in this chronicle, right? But if we put her in a line-up of *all* the people in Boston, she'd automatically be in the top 15% - 20% [perhaps even 10%] merely due to the fact she's an 'Other'. Colin may be as high as the top 5%.

It was the VtM Player's Guide that explicitly pointed this out; that while compared to an elder the neonate PC looks paltry, compared to the mass of humanity they are *already* the apex predator with the skills to match.

Yes but we are not talking about the creation of a base charater we are talking about allowing the new players some extra points to to fall behind they should be allowed to place them as they want to.

- Even if they use them to make the PC into a huge one-trick pony? [This isn't a question you need to answer me, merely rhetorical.]

The blurb seems fine to me.

Not me/you limiting, M20 creation rules limiting. And if 'best in New England' is 5, is 'best in the world' 6? Honestly, I think you're downplaying the true rarity of L4 skill - I remember one old ST guide [can't remember which, but suspect it's VtM] saying basically, 'most NPCs cannot realistically hope to exceed skill 3, but many 'Others' can due to extra abilities, longer lifespans and so on'.

The problem here is that the books is not consequent and also a 1 to 5 scale is pretty limited. I use what is in the character creation section on verious skills where yes allot of pepole ahve skills over 3. For Medicine for example it is this.

*: Have completed a first aid course.
**: Nursing student.
***: Resident doctor.
****: Surgeon.
*****: World Renowned Specialist.

Clearly there are many surgeons and also quite a few aknowledged and renowned specialists in the world. The various books have a bit varying text but like I said * Beginner, ** In seirous training, *** Professional, **** Skilled professional, ***** World class. Seam to be the stanard. There are many who reach skileld professional and allot fewer who reach world class but even so there are non supernaturals who are world class at something. The one to five system represent the normal human range someone who have been at something for centuries might have a skill above five.

Even if they use them to make the PC into a huge one-trick pony? [This isn't a question you need to answer me, merely rhetorical.]

If thye decide to make a one trick pony and have a good background explination for this and it is a fun character to play and interact with I do not really see the problem here.

The blurb seems fine to me.

Then I will go fishing with it and see if any olayers bite.

Noting that the dot system is a bit off, too - 4 dots in, say, Pilot means you qualify for clearance to pilot military aircraft, like Colin maintains the skills for. But the leaps between the first few dots are pretty unreasonably narrow compared to the last two.

5 dots in an Ability pretty much represents the highest attainable level of training - a degree of skill not commonly available without decades of study around the world, and a metric buttload of cross-disciplinary training. A 5th-dot doctor, for example, will likely have 4 dots in several sciences (chemistry, physics, etc. to know how things affect the human physiology and mind), possibly even some knowledge of occult interpretations of healing, such as acupuncture/acupressure and various naturopathic remedies based on semblances and correspondences (heart-shaped leaves good for cardiac health, that sort of thing), and must be complemented by a high Attribute. A dice pool in the double digits is virtually unattainable, but not entirely impossible... but the way the system works, increasing Attributes will pay off more in the long run than investing in Abilities early on.

The problem is that there are only five dots so the scale is so short. Another problem with the Storyteller system is this, let us say you have an old but world renowned chef, age have slowed him down but he still have all his knowledge and still cool at a resturant. he have cooking, a secondary skill 5 and Dex 1, then you have a collage student who is an athlete, he decide to elarn a bit about food so he have cooking: 1 and Dex 5. The two of them have the same chance of cooking a delicious mean and system wise they are just as skilled as one another. Now I give it the athlete could cook up a basic meal faster than the old master, but the old master would still be the better cook.

No one ever said Storyteller was the best or most realistic dice system but it is easy to learn and fast.

Well, it's almost impossible to get [for example] 'Medicine 5' because that would require them to be an omnidisciplinary doctor which can perform anything ; brain surgery, psychiatry, dentistry, physiotherapy, organ transplants... the subject is just too broad. However, a world-renowned brain surgeon is likely to have 'picked up' some aspects of all the above; you see this in isolated situations [such as Antarctic Bases] where their resident doctor would be able to quickly read up on something they needed to perform or in this modern time, play 'I'll be your hands' to an actual specialist who's supervising the operation via Zoom.

*: Have completed a first aid course.
**: Nursing student.
***: Resident doctor.
****: Surgeon.
*****: World Renowned Specialist.

With no offence to the one who wrote that, they don't know medical career grades. 'Surgeon' is actually a separate track of career from either 'general practice' or 'hospital resident', not a rank of ['Time marches on' issue? For in the UK those three 'tracks' were split in 1948!]

V20 wrote:• Student: You’ve taken a CPR course.
•• College: Premed or paramedic
••• Masters: General practitioner
•••• Doctorate: You can perform transplants.
••••• Scholar: You are respected by the world’s medical community as a pioneer.

A bit more accurate, but I still don't like it due to the 'surgeon' mistake. I would re-write it as;

• Student: First-Aider, Combat Medic
•• College: Premed, Paramedic, Nurse
••• Masters: Medical Practitioner
•••• Doctorate: Recognised expert in field
••••• Scholar: World-class medical pioneer

Honestly, I don't care if this is going against the book 'a bit' because it's basically wrong - like Warp says, the 'jumps' between 3, 4 and 5 are too uneven. Or is it? Let's look at the generic 'Professional Skill'...

V20 wrote:• Novice: You’ve apprenticed.
•• Practiced: You have a handle on the
basics.
••• Competent: You could make a living,
although not a fortune, doing what
you do.
•••• Expert: You know the more esoteric
uses of your Skill, and are rarely at
a loss.
••••• Master: You are an acknowledged
authority in your chosen field of
endeavor.

You know what - that works. I read it being being like this for Nick's own Craft of Automotives...

• 'Back-Yard Tinkerer'
•• 'Auto Shop Assistant'
••• 'Fully-fledged Mechanic'
•••• 'Project Manager, GM Skunkworks'
••••• 'Henry Ford, Ferdinand Porshe, You.'

Another thing we need to remember is that many Abilities will decline if not continuously 'topped up' - for example, Nick will not only need her frequent refresher training [to keep up on new developments] but occasionally will need a 'full update'; for example, she'll eventually need to get a grip on electrics and hybrids at some stage. So a lot of folks may be having to expend a lot of 'XP' [as a measure of time/effort] merely to have their dots hold steady over years/decades.

Some Abilities barely have this problem. Colin isn't going to walk into his shop one day and learn the basics of silversmithing suddenly changed; save the modern of modern tools, his craft is essentially the same as the medieval era; Paul Revere's 250 year-old tools would still be usable [enough] for Colin [and vice-versa]. Same for the old master chef; food is food.

I'll tell here an anecdote I read recently. Someone was studying under a former winning bodybuilder now in their 70s. The physical routines were working well, but they questioned her food advice. General answer; Human bodies don't change, so old bodybuilders advice still good. Nutritional science, however have gone far since the '70s which means their advice was obsolete.

To tie this back in to the 'old chef' example; while the old master may cook up the better-tasting meal, the college athlete is more likely to cook up the better-nutritional meal. [Unless the old master has gone out of their way to learn modern nutritional lessons, that is.]

I think Paul Revere would have some issue with Colin's induction furnace, and probably with Colin being British, but aside from that, yeah, pretty much the same gear. In fact, Colin's reenactment kit would be 100% familiar to Revere, most likely.

And yeah, a lot of skills require maintenance, like Colin's helicopter skills. At some point, he might just get that instructor's license and teach others part-time.

As for the mechanic ranking order - where'd you place Ferrucio Lamborghini, who made tractors until Enzo Ferrari pissed him off?

Well, I *did* say 'with the exception of the modern tools'. However, as long as Revere saw Colin *using* the furnace I think he'd work out how to use it in no short order [may even work it out himself]. Similar could be said for even Classical silversmiths. [let's assume everyone has a Babel Fish or something].

Similar can be said for warfare. Alexander the Great would *generally* be able to handle armies way into the mediveal era, for the principal weapons/tactics are the same until the advent of gunpowder, while Columbus would be familiar enough with sail-ships to know his way around HMS Victory.

As for Lamborghini... well, it depends on his 'brilliance'. Some are brilliant themselves, others are merely 'pretty good' but know *how* to assemble/run 'teams of pretty good' around them, which ultimately adds up to 'brilliance'. Turing was also 'brilliant', but only in a very narrow field. If nothing else, he *needed* the collected brilliance of the GPO to engineer his visions into reality.

It's a variant of the old quip of Machiavelli on 'good rulers' - there's the type who are smart themselves, then there's the type which knows smart when they see it and knows how to use it right.

Well, it's almost impossible to get [for example] 'Medicine 5' because that would require them to be an omnidisciplinary doctor which can perform anything ; brain surgery, psychiatry, dentistry, physiotherapy, organ transplants... the subject is just too broad. However, a world-renowned brain surgeon is likely to have 'picked up' some aspects of all the above; you see this in isolated situations [such as Antarctic Bases] where their resident doctor would be able to quickly read up on something they needed to perform or in this modern time, play 'I'll be your hands' to an actual specialist who's supervising the operation via Zoom.

I do not think you need to know all the diceplies of medicine in order to have Medicine 5. I have given Dino medicne 5 he is a world renowned heart specialict, or more specifically a pedriatric hart specialist, sure he have general practice as well but he is nto the man you call in if they need brain surgery on a 80 year old, he can do all sorts of surgery sure but he is a specialist in children's hearts.

With no offence to the one who wrote that, they don't know medical career grades. 'Surgeon' is actually a separate track of career from either 'general practice' or 'hospital resident', not a rank of ['Time marches on' issue? For in the UK those three 'tracks' were split in 1948!]

I do nto remember exactly what words was used but the point of it was first dot novice, second dot serious student, third dot professional, forth dot skilled professional and firth dot world class. As such I have no problem with someone having a 4 dot in something it just means they are a skilled professional.

To tie this back in to the 'old chef' example; while the old master may cook up the better-tasting meal, the college athlete is more likely to cook up the better-nutritional meal. [Unless the old master has gone out of their way to learn modern nutritional lessons, that is.]

Even so that is a mote point if th goal is to make gormet food, it do nto matter if the collage student kan make a better health shake but the two of them would have equal dize pool making a health shake or making a gormet dinner and that is where the problem is.

However different books give different idea for skills, sometimes the same book have inconsistencies. Some putting 4 and 5 dots as extremely rare and difficult to attain and some having them fairly common. I tend to go with the discription above so 4 dot is not uncommon among those who have been at something for a good while. Yes skills have to be maintained and like I said skills over 3 will require justification in the character background but with justification I will allow them.

I do not think you need to know all the diceplies of medicine in order to have Medicine 5. I have given Dino medicne 5 he is a world renowned heart specialict, or more specifically a pedriatric hart specialist, sure he have general practice as well but he is nto the man you call in if they need brain surgery on a 80 year old, he can do all sorts of surgery sure but he is a specialist in children's hearts.

True, but the ST system says that Dino could do anything from sex reassignment surgery and dental work to pathology and neurology. There is a good argument here to say that unless the action in question is their speciality [which kicks in at L4] the actor is capped at 3 skill dots - representing the fact that while they do have a load of cross-applicable skills and experience which may allow them to 'wing it', being a master of paediatrics doesn't make you the go-to guy/gal if you've got a load of combat casualties. You're better than nobody, yes; but often enough a proper combat surgeon is required. [Naturally, I'm excluding the Garou-ness, which makes me suspect he's buddies with healing spirits and has Rotes/Gifts for similar].

It's partly the reason Nick went out of her way to find a personal doctor in Boston - Dr Lee may be a good generic 'sawbones' [not sure what his speciality is, actually - has it been mentioned?], but he is not experienced with cybernetics.

I do nto remember exactly what words was used but the point of it was first dot novice, second dot serious student, third dot professional, forth dot skilled professional and firth dot world class. As such I have no problem with someone having a 4 dot in something it just means they are a skilled professional.

Issue again, massive jump between 4 and 5. I see it generally like;

• 'Hobbyist' - can perform basic things at home, closely following instructions such as WikiHow etc.
•• 'Assistant' - can perform more complicated things alone, as long as they're routine in nature. Otherwise, require supervision by senior.
••• 'Professional' - can handle many of the problems/projects alone. If skill is 'marketable', can make a living from it.
•••• 'Known Authority' - Their skills are well-known in their field; cited as an authority, encouraged to write textbooks, teach etc.
••••• 'World Class' - Skills so vast, are tapped for truly unique, special opportunities.

However different books give different idea for skills, sometimes the same book have inconsistencies. Some putting 4 and 5 dots as extremely rare and difficult to attain and some having them fairly common. I tend to go with the discription above so 4 dot is not uncommon among those who have been at something for a good while. Yes skills have to be maintained and like I said skills over 3 will require justification in the character background but with justification I will allow them.

Well, I'd argue it's all down to selection bias. WoD books focus on either a) 'Others' [mages, vampires, shapeshifters etc] or b) 'unique mortals' [monster-hunters, SAD agents etc]. The former generally don't work in dead-end occupations, often live/survive much longer than normal people and also get to meet much more 'highly skilled' people. For example, Nick would find it difficult to find a Sleeper combat teacher who could teach her new stuff - she'd need a Special Forces type, MMA fighter etc. However, there's bound to be a few Mages in Boston who could teach, as well as others - perhaps a Garou will teach her their art of 'claw-fighting'?

What's more, most of the characters focused on are the senior ones. We see the sheets of Elders, Masters and Princes - [generally] not the neonates and Claiths [similar can be said about locations. We see the big cities, the large chantries etc, not the much more generic, mid-sized ones or even ones on the skids (Gary is an exception)]. In this, I think the 'sample characters' in the back of the various books are more representative; that the few characters who have a L4 Ability have it as part of their backstory [usually, their career and/or special skill].

Oh, and in other news, I think your FB advert did something. Noticed there were some ~50 lurkers earlier this morning.

I think Dr. Lee is a GP, working toward specialization, but I could be remembering wrong in that regard.

And let's keep in mind on the "four dots is a specialist" thing that with the fourth dot in anything you DO get a Specialty. So a 4th-dot doctor could essentially have 5 dots doing cardiac surgery, and the same doctor on his 5th dot is at 5 dots for medicine in general, and effectively 6 dots with cardiac surgery... plus the Attribute score, which might have a Surgery specialty at 4+ dots... for a potential dice pool of 12 dice within human limits, and who knows where the limit winds up with the supernatural in play?

Well, I don't like it. Having a 5-dot 'I can do everything!' doctor is as logical as the 'I know everything!' 5-dot Academic or the 'I can make anything' 5-dot Crafts.

Which is unfair in itself, as Crafts has been cleaved apart into sub-sections you have to buy again and again. If a game system is to be unfair, it should at least be *equally* unfair.

Your thoughts on the 'medicine skill dilemma' would be welcome, Great One...

Though that's not the real reason for posting this; merely asking whether you've had any bites from your FB advert?

Well I think perhaps Medicine 5 with a specialization for pedriatric cardiology might fit better if that is what you was asking.

So far I have had one interested person, however the Mage group on facebook have been down due to drama and just came back up. Feel free to ask around the rest of you as well looking for new players.

- More the issue that as the rules say, a person with 5 dots in Medicine can do everything with 5 dots. It makes little sense that (say) a cardiologist is almost as well-skilled in every other medical field too... [exp as the rules make a craftsman have to re-buy individual crafts repeatedly].

- I have an account at Giantitp; do you want me to post an advert on there for you?

No I would no say that someone with 5 dots in something can do everything. Kristina have 5 dots in Melee, she use daggers she would have no idea really how to use a huge warhammer. I mean she can move so she would have some luck with it but she would nto be an expert using a warhammer. Skills are very wide in World of Darkness so while the system do nto say you can not do everything that is covered by that skill some reason ahve to be used. Someone with 5 in medicine who specialize as a oh brain surgeon would not be as good at repairing broken bones as someone who specialize in that reason have to be used.

Yes posting an advert at Giantitp would be very useful, thank you.

The forum has a 'particular' way of recruitment, based around the '16 questions' model. I've filled in all but the last one myself; please quickly check to see if it's right before I post it [I'll put your blurb at the top of this ad, so don't worry].

1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
Mage The Ascension. Setting; 2nd Edition, Rules; M20/4th Edition. Small amount of homebrew mainly as fixes/patches.

2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Somewhat 'high magick' game with added politics and some personal horror [as normal for WoD], set [primarily] in the city of Boston, MA in 2015.

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
One - replacement member for a game which has been running for six years.

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
Own forum; https://chantrysteelhaven.forumotion.com/

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
'Experienced Disciple'. Creation as laid out in 4th Edition, plus 15 extra freebies so the new PC is not too far behind other PCs in abilities.

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
Not applicable. However, PC will gain membership of an established Chantry which means Background(s) Chantry, Node etc will be thrown in gratis.

7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Any published group which is at least not hostile to the Traditions is acceptable.

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
Not applicable.

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
See #5.

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Not applicable.

11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Not applicable.

12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
Rolls can be done either by player or by ST.

13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
Only a few minor fixes, such as Ability cost changed from '3' to 'Current x 2' [to bring it in line with VtM/WtA costs] and some rulings on 'Ability Demarcations' [eg, Alertness/Awareness debate] which always end up happening with a WoD game [and can be discussed with ST during the nitty-gritty of creation].

14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
Yes, but a novel isn't required. Will require a bit more work than other WoD games, as the 'how the character does magick' bit will also need to be fleshed out.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
Combination of all the above. However, the PCs are not forced to go around with all the rest of the cabal at all times.

16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?

[You'll see I'm a bit stuck on this one. Will you allow within limits using other non-MtA sources for things like Merits/Flaws and so on?]

Question 8 could be replied that this is a pure Mage game but kinfolk mages are ok the same with ghoul mages but as we use Blood Trechery rules such characters comes with a literal expiration date.

12 should probably be replied that die rolls can be made by physical rolls at home or by a die roller as the player wishes I trust the players there is little reason to cheat in a RPG game.

16 yes. Any World of Darkness book that do not directly contridict Mage can be used for Merits and Flaws or anything else that is suitable for mages.

#8: perhaps 'minor crossover characters down to ST approval on a case-by-case basis'? So you don't inadvertently pre-commit yourself to accepting a BSD Kinfolk Mage concept?

#12: Agreed.

#16: perhaps 'Ideally Mage 4th as main book, though older editions generally acceptable. Non-Mage books usable for source materiel down to ST discretion'. After all, what you say, goes.

#8: perhaps 'minor crossover characters down to ST approval on a case-by-case basis'? So you don't inadvertently pre-commit yourself to accepting a BSD Kinfolk Mage concept?

Agreed.

#16: perhaps 'Ideally Mage 4th as main book, though older editions generally acceptable. Non-Mage books usable for source materiel down to ST discretion'. After all, what you say, goes.

That works pretty well.

Well, the ad's up. I'll keep you posted whether anybody bites.

Thank you, take a free exp point for the job.

There's one possible already; they decided to jump me and simply join and shoot you a PM.

If the FB one doesn't turn out and you'd prefer to have a roster of 5, I can always bump the ad with the line 'another slot has come free!'

Yay XP.

Though if we are going to have new people join, perhaps this is the point where we all pull out our fingers and finally, do a full update and sort of the NPCs list?