Creating a magical group, Please help I cant get my head around it Options

[Lansdren]

Ok my group is abit odd at times but the current GM (we rotate to share the work) is talking about joining us as a magical group. I'm not against the idea myself but the logistics of this is making my head hurt.

The group as is stands

Human Mage (going Chaos slowly)
Maltese Cyclops mystic adept (Catholic)
NAN Drake (worshiper of the great spirit)
Werebear Adept (worships Bear suprisingly)
Elf cyberbunny (non awakened)

Now I can see how you could put a group together with the first four with abit of hassle but its the fifth that to me seems to be the problem. Is it at all possible for a mundane to join a magical group? I dont think it is but maybe there is a loophole or something.

I'm throwing this out into the digital realms as it were because I dont want to ruin the GM's story by bringing rules into it but at the same time I just cant see it

Any thoughts people?

[CeeJay]

No, you need to be awakened to join a magic group.

Only thing I could think of is giving the elf cyberbunny the Latent Awakening Quality. If the GM wants to have an all-player magical group this could be a way to achieve that.

-CJ

[Karoline]

Okay, by magic group I'm going to assume you mean the special rules from street magic and not 'a group that happens to have magical people in it.'

Here is the thing. Magic groups exist on two levels. On one level, you have the initiatory group, which is what gives the magical benefits, and on another level you have just a group (Like NRA is a group, or like Yakuza is a group). Now, you can have anyone you want, including mundanes in that second level. Now, for the initiator group part, there is nothing that I saw or remember that specifically forbids mundanes from joining, but given that there are risks associated with group members, and that things get more difficult as a group gets larger, and that the mundane can't contribute anything to the group, I see neither the mundane wanting to join the initiatory group, or the group wanting the mundane to join. The mundane could still be part of the second level of the group, but just wouldn't be magically bonded to the other members like the first level is.

The bigger problem I see, is that you have four different traditions being practiced in the group. That is going to take some serious time/effort/strictures to overcome. Each tradition beyond the first is a -2 to the DP to form a group, so with 4 traditions you're at -6 to the DP, which is Logic + Arcane and must be made by each of the founding members, and in this case will have a threshold of 4 and can only be made once a month. Getting DP back is hard, costing large amounts of karma and/or time and/or strictures.

[Tanegar]

While the cyberbunny might be a "member" in terms of being listed on the rolls, he would not gain the benefits of being part of a magical group. He cannot:

• Initiate, because he's not Awakened
• Benefit from magical instruction, because he's not Awakened
• Go on a metaplanar quest without the aid of a spirit with the Astral Gateway power, because he's not Awakened
• Engage in ritual magic, because he's not Awakened

You get the picture. He can be the group's bouncer or bodyguard or whatever, but he's never going to contribute in any way beyond paying dues (if the group requires dues).

[Lansdren]

Thanks guys its much like I thought.

The only loop hole I can see is GM fiat of giving the latent awakening and it costing the Gunbunny Karma for it which to be honest I think sucks hugely.


I'm not sure how this part of our game is going to pan out but I am having the same feeling Id get if a Elf said to me "dont worry it will be easy chummer"

[Karoline]

Well, the gunbunny doesn't have to join the group on the level that costs karma.

[Udoshi]

The way I see it, you can have a magical group on two levels.

As a Group Contact - it has connections, loyalty, resources, and can do stuff for you - or ask you to do them favors.
And as an Initiatory Group, which among other things, provides karma discounts on initiation.