Setting Discussions

I'm familiar only with Mage: The Ascension of the mage product line, and while I have glossed over M:TAwk(I know that pride is a really big deal, right? Hubris?), my experience lies more with the other game. That said, I do have potential access to Awakening 2e, and even then I am pretty sure I can get the 1st edition if that's what we're playing.

As for eras, I do prefer contemporaneity- But like, I said the same thing in Whistler's Changeling game and we ended up playing on contemporary nights when I think everyone else may have been kind of leaning to the victorian thingie. So, just to clarify, I'm okay playing in whatever era! I'm not a huge history nerd but I'm more than happy to read more about it if needed.

I like the idea of the game being around the community. Having recurrent NPCs, a place that our characters feel attached to, all of that really helps me, personally, immerse myself.

And while I dig the typical American city because of the many things we can bring to the table(All the social norms that tend to be constantly challenged in the west, especially nowadays, and how our characters as mages fit into this ever-evolving society), I am also super okay with playing in whatever else. Here are a few ideas that I, personally, find appealing:

- Game set at some point in the Soviet Union, diverse cast of mages either accommodating to the USSR or actively resisting it(or in a limbo where backstabbing and alliance making ensues)
- Game set in Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War, with our characters as part of the Republican Chinese Mage faction that is now starting to organize Taiwan as their new home.
- A What If scenario in a nearby future in the EU where concepts like nationality, ethnicity, and etc are very, very muddled. A cast of young mages trying to find and establish themselves in this world is adviced.
- A cast of characters who in the actuality have zero credibility in the mage community for reasons but in the future everyone faces this catastrophic event that is really really bad and they managed to time trip to this specific point(either consciously or physically) and now they have to try to stop it despite everyone considering them scrubs. For whatever reason, they need to gain the community's support to try to avoid the future.
- Any apocalypse-like scenarios are actually cool to me, either happening before or after, being a surprise or not. The Armageddon from Ascension comes to mind: I'm not sure if Awakening has something like that? And really, this apocalypse staple can be applied on top of any of the other suggestions as well!