The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I have always been annoyed by the lack of an interesting and believable portrayal of the Technocracy in Mage, mostly because my personal paradigm jives much better with technomancy than dark ages hermeticism or neo-paganism. Also, I just rankle at stereotypical two-dimensional (or one-dimensional, in this case) villians. I prefer that all the people in my game worlds be people, not caricatures. So, I waited with bated breath for Guide to the Technocracy, hoping against hope that it would fulfill all my wildest dreams. While it didn't quite overwhelm me, it was much, much better than I seriously expected and significantly improves the game.

The Introduction is careful to point out to you that everything you have ever heard before about the Technocracy has been tainted by the misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the Traditions. It clearly states that the Technocrats are, of course, the good guys and that their demonization is just to further the petty agendas of the Traditions. Nice save, indeed, and totally believable. However, I find it increasingly annoying and unfortunate that White Wolf persists in writing game material according to the prejudices of some unspecified or assumed 'speaker'. This just causes confusion for the Storytellers who, in buying a game supplement, are looking for objective material on the game world, not propaganda. If they wanted the viewpoints of fictional characters, they would buy novels.

Rant aside, it is a good start and they keep with it fairly consistantly. Unlike the obnoxious Shadow Court book, there is little jumping back and forth between 'this group isn't evil' and 'yes it is' perspectives. Only a few lapses occur and they are relatively minor. Mostly, this is a book putting forth the Technocracy as brave defenders of humanity and idealistic crusaders for universal ascension through a common reality.

Setting and theme are discussed and, unlike other books where these sections seem obligatory, they are actually useful and interesting here. Contributing to this is the need to prove that the Technocracy is playable, for one, and to discuss the wildly different take on the world that the game must take from 'stock Mage'.

Chapter One continues in this vein by detailing some plot ideas and current events within the Union with hints on what sort of campaigns are possible. I found this a little limiting and it borders on a 'lapse' of the Technocracy-as-not-evil perspective of the book by suggesting that the only interesting and proper Technocracy campaign should focus on agents who are trying to fix all that is wrong with the Union, often by breaking the rules. This annoys me, perhaps because I am cynical of the tendency of players to want to play such outlaw characters, so that nobody is left who actually supports the organizations of the World of Darkness. Just a personal pet peeve. I'll move on.

Chapter Two covers Enlightened Science and is very well done. The Technocratic take on Paradox is particularly good, with the outstanding rationalization that the reason Technomancy works so well in space (ie. the umbra, where there is no paradox) is because of weightlessness and lack of contaminants to foul up the mechanisms. Lovely. I have always approved of paradigm-specific views of paradox. The part on Seekings and Avatars is not bad, but could have been better. The main flaw I see is that there isn't any effort given to try and explain or justify some things according to the paradigm. They try to justify Spirit as Dimensional Science and do a fair job, but it really could have used a longer write-up. As is, it seems a little lame. Also, they don't even bother trying with Prime, giving a half-assed justification in terms of 'creation vibration' and just say that the Technos try not to think about it too hard. Come on, these are scientists. They are going to come up with theories for it. Off the top of my head, I can come up with half a dozen scientifically plausible explanations for Prime. Twice that if I don't discount 'etherlike' arguments. Similarly, Avatars are explained as psychological metaphors, a good start but not well enough developed to be very useful. It really deserved more attention.

There is also some discussion on the tools of the trade, which also seems a bit lame. They allow an alternative to the 'one focus per sphere' rule which is odd, because I thought that got thrown out with second edition. Maybe I wasn't reading closely enough. It still requires definition of foci per sphere which I still think is stupid. It ties the actual use of Enlightened Science too close to the game mechanic of the spheres, making for an unrealistic fusion. A better means of dealing with it would be to define foci per effect, so that you don't turn mirrorshades and microscopes into bizarre techno-fetishes, like they are portrayed in the spontaneous casting example (where a MiB dons his mirrorshades in time to notice that the ceiling is weak, just before it conveniently collapses and blocks his attacker).

NOTE: The chapter numbers may be off, as I am doing this from memory.

Chapter Three is the history section. When I read this piecemeal, it annoyed me, but reading it beginning to end made me re-evaluate it altogether. It is excellent. At the start, it defines three competing theories on the history of the Technocracy. One suggests that all influential and brilliant historical figures were Enlightened. One proposes that these people weren't Enlightened, but were being manipulated by secret societies of the Enlightened. The last makes the radical claim that humanity makes its own destiny and that the Enlightened are just along for the ride. The chapter then goes on to present these three theories simultaneously as they explore what might be the history of the Technocracy. It points out in many places where there is speculation, or where a convention may just be blowing its own horn. In addition, some of the tales (like the formation of the NWO) are openly contradicted at other points in the book, making historical truth a wonderfully elusive, slippery thing.

It also notes, in passing, that for Mages, the difference between discovering and defining is practically non-existant, and that history may very well change to conform to the prevalent theory. Very subjectivist but very fitting with the game cosmology.

Chapter Four goes into the actual organization and operating procedures of the Union. Covering time tables (convention ones as well as the Union one), training, classification, and prodecures, it does an excellent job of finally showing how the five Conventions operate as a whole entity. The only weak point was the mechanics for 'Social Conditioning' which seems to forget that the book has stated that the Union isn't a monolithic hive-mind and goes on to show what malleable drones its members are conditioned to be. While paradigm-heavy training makes a lot of sense, the utter obliteration of individual will and judgement is stupid. It is 'old Techno'.

Chapter Five goes on to detail the Conventions themselves. Giving them four pages each, it gives their history, strengths, weaknesses, good and bad sides, a bit about their paradigm and a few notable figures. This is very nice. One can only wish the Traditions had been so handled (I keep having to remind people that they have dark sides). The extra two pages each is really worth the effort and the information given is extremely useful. While some of the dark side stuff is a little much for my taste (Progenitors backing illegal drugs and mass addiction? pleeeease), most of it is even-handed.

Chapter Six goes into character creation and there is some damn good stuff here. The Techno versions of Backgrounds are particularly good. The de-mystification helps to strengthen the unique perspective of the Union and its agents. There is also 6-10 ratings for some Backgrounds (like Contacts and Resources) which I'm not entirely sure are really necessary, but there you have them. Also, it introduces Requisitions, which helps to clear up the thorny problem of how much assistance the Union is willing to give agents for those of us who have been running Techno PCs for years. As far as Merits/Flaws and Abilities are concerned, there are some nice ones among the obligatory chaff, and the way Academics and Science are dealt with is neat, if a bit unnecessary, given secondary abilities.

Chapter Seven is the obligatory Storytelling chapter. However, this is actually a useful addition, for once. A lot of really interesting tips are given, as well as analysis of some common poor techniques in structure (which I found particularly useful in critiquing my own style) as well as a nice television series metaphor that does a lot for helping you organize structure (more so than the novel metaphor used in previous versions).

Chapter Eight is the weakest part of the book, focusing on rotes, devices, and enhancements (genetic, cybernetic, and biotech). To start, the rotes are deplorable. A full third of them lack any sort of scientific explanation and a half of those remaining use it in a cheesy and dishonest manner. An example of the first problem is a nice rote called 'Ace of Diamonds', which causes a person to have bad luck. That's it. No scientific explanation, no technological focus. An example of the second is a rote which lets you make someone sick by telling them an urban legend about how something they just ate was bad for them (using MSG as the example). Please. Just sad.

The devices aren't quite so bad but focus too much on cool cars and attack helicopters and not enough on actually useful common tools. Finally, the enhancements are the best part of the chapter, going into manifestations of the permanent paradox that such things give you (such as the genetic defects of genegineered beings) and giving some reasonable and fairly priced examples. The only down side is that the prices don't seem to jive well with the Enhancements background given earlier. The correspondance isn't clearly stated (are the 'background points' referred to as cost actual Background Points or the 'Points of Enhancements' points that the Enhancements Background gives you?).

One nice touch was mention of implants and enhancements used to implement procedures (basically foci) and how these do not have to be paid for since they have no inate function, they just serve as tools for Enlightened Science. I like this a lot. Hell, in many ways I like it a lot better than Devices presented as actual costing Enhancement and think the concept should have gotten more than a couple sentences.

Lastly, the Appendix gives some reference material to get down the mood and theme. Here, they seem to revert a bit to the 'old technocracy' line, pointing you towards lots of dystopian novels and movies about fascist governments. The same tired depictions of an oppressive organization that was all we used to have to go by. A few of the examples are worthwhile, though.

In summary, I may have spent a considerable effort pointing out what I see as the flaws in this book, but a lot of that is personal taste and it should also be kept in mind that the ratio of words I dedicate to the flaws as compared to the high points doesn't reflect the book's ratio in any way. The Guide to the Technocracy is the first useful and believable supplement dealing with the group and finally makes a campaign focused on the Union plausible as well as just possible. It fixes a lot of the problems with previous supplements and with the main book, and gives a lot of good advice, particularly on how to run such a game.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Guide to the Technocracy
Author: Phil Brucato, Brian Campbell, Steve Long, Tom deMayo and Scott Taylor Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Mage: The Ascension Cost: $25.95 Page count: 246 ISBN: 1-56504-417-7 SKU: WW4014 Capsule Review by Eric Christian Berg on 09/07/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Conspiracy	I have always been annoyed by the lack of an interesting and believable portrayal of the Technocracy in Mage, mostly because my personal paradigm jives much better with technomancy than dark ages hermeticism or neo-paganism. Also, I just rankle at stereotypical two-dimensional (or one-dimensional, in this case) villians. I prefer that all the people in my game worlds be people, not caricatures. So, I waited with bated breath for Guide to the Technocracy, hoping against hope that it would fulfill all my wildest dreams. While it didn't quite overwhelm me, it was much, much better than I seriously expected and significantly improves the game. The Introduction is careful to point out to you that everything you have ever heard before about the Technocracy has been tainted by the misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the Traditions. It clearly states that the Technocrats are, of course, the good guys and that their demonization is just to further the petty agendas of the Traditions. Nice save, indeed, and totally believable. However, I find it increasingly annoying and unfortunate that White Wolf persists in writing game material according to the prejudices of some unspecified or assumed 'speaker'. This just causes confusion for the Storytellers who, in buying a game supplement, are looking for objective material on the game world, not propaganda. If they wanted the viewpoints of fictional characters, they would buy novels. Rant aside, it is a good start and they keep with it fairly consistantly. Unlike the obnoxious Shadow Court book, there is little jumping back and forth between 'this group isn't evil' and 'yes it is' perspectives. Only a few lapses occur and they are relatively minor. Mostly, this is a book putting forth the Technocracy as brave defenders of humanity and idealistic crusaders for universal ascension through a common reality. Setting and theme are discussed and, unlike other books where these sections seem obligatory, they are actually useful and interesting here. Contributing to this is the need to prove that the Technocracy is playable, for one, and to discuss the wildly different take on the world that the game must take from 'stock Mage'. Chapter One continues in this vein by detailing some plot ideas and current events within the Union with hints on what sort of campaigns are possible. I found this a little limiting and it borders on a 'lapse' of the Technocracy-as-not-evil perspective of the book by suggesting that the only interesting and proper Technocracy campaign should focus on agents who are trying to fix all that is wrong with the Union, often by breaking the rules. This annoys me, perhaps because I am cynical of the tendency of players to want to play such outlaw characters, so that nobody is left who actually supports the organizations of the World of Darkness. Just a personal pet peeve. I'll move on. Chapter Two covers Enlightened Science and is very well done. The Technocratic take on Paradox is particularly good, with the outstanding rationalization that the reason Technomancy works so well in space (ie. the umbra, where there is no paradox) is because of weightlessness and lack of contaminants to foul up the mechanisms. Lovely. I have always approved of paradigm-specific views of paradox. The part on Seekings and Avatars is not bad, but could have been better. The main flaw I see is that there isn't any effort given to try and explain or justify some things according to the paradigm. They try to justify Spirit as Dimensional Science and do a fair job, but it really could have used a longer write-up. As is, it seems a little lame. Also, they don't even bother trying with Prime, giving a half-assed justification in terms of 'creation vibration' and just say that the Technos try not to think about it too hard. Come on, these are scientists. They are going to come up with theories for it. Off the top of my head, I can come up with half a dozen scientifically plausible explanations for Prime. Twice that if I don't discount 'etherlike' arguments. Similarly, Avatars are explained as psychological metaphors, a good start but not well enough developed to be very useful. It really deserved more attention. There is also some discussion on the tools of the trade, which also seems a bit lame. They allow an alternative to the 'one focus per sphere' rule which is odd, because I thought that got thrown out with second edition. Maybe I wasn't reading closely enough. It still requires definition of foci per sphere which I still think is stupid. It ties the actual use of Enlightened Science too close to the game mechanic of the spheres, making for an unrealistic fusion. A better means of dealing with it would be to define foci per effect, so that you don't turn mirrorshades and microscopes into bizarre techno-fetishes, like they are portrayed in the spontaneous casting example (where a MiB dons his mirrorshades in time to notice that the ceiling is weak, just before it conveniently collapses and blocks his attacker). NOTE: The chapter numbers may be off, as I am doing this from memory. Chapter Three is the history section. When I read this piecemeal, it annoyed me, but reading it beginning to end made me re-evaluate it altogether. It is excellent. At the start, it defines three competing theories on the history of the Technocracy. One suggests that all influential and brilliant historical figures were Enlightened. One proposes that these people weren't Enlightened, but were being manipulated by secret societies of the Enlightened. The last makes the radical claim that humanity makes its own destiny and that the Enlightened are just along for the ride. The chapter then goes on to present these three theories simultaneously as they explore what might be the history of the Technocracy. It points out in many places where there is speculation, or where a convention may just be blowing its own horn. In addition, some of the tales (like the formation of the NWO) are openly contradicted at other points in the book, making historical truth a wonderfully elusive, slippery thing. It also notes, in passing, that for Mages, the difference between discovering and defining is practically non-existant, and that history may very well change to conform to the prevalent theory. Very subjectivist but very fitting with the game cosmology. Chapter Four goes into the actual organization and operating procedures of the Union. Covering time tables (convention ones as well as the Union one), training, classification, and prodecures, it does an excellent job of finally showing how the five Conventions operate as a whole entity. The only weak point was the mechanics for 'Social Conditioning' which seems to forget that the book has stated that the Union isn't a monolithic hive-mind and goes on to show what malleable drones its members are conditioned to be. While paradigm-heavy training makes a lot of sense, the utter obliteration of individual will and judgement is stupid. It is 'old Techno'. Chapter Five goes on to detail the Conventions themselves. Giving them four pages each, it gives their history, strengths, weaknesses, good and bad sides, a bit about their paradigm and a few notable figures. This is very nice. One can only wish the Traditions had been so handled (I keep having to remind people that they have dark sides). The extra two pages each is really worth the effort and the information given is extremely useful. While some of the dark side stuff is a little much for my taste (Progenitors backing illegal drugs and mass addiction? pleeeease), most of it is even-handed. Chapter Six goes into character creation and there is some damn good stuff here. The Techno versions of Backgrounds are particularly good. The de-mystification helps to strengthen the unique perspective of the Union and its agents. There is also 6-10 ratings for some Backgrounds (like Contacts and Resources) which I'm not entirely sure are really necessary, but there you have them. Also, it introduces Requisitions, which helps to clear up the thorny problem of how much assistance the Union is willing to give agents for those of us who have been running Techno PCs for years. As far as Merits/Flaws and Abilities are concerned, there are some nice ones among the obligatory chaff, and the way Academics and Science are dealt with is neat, if a bit unnecessary, given secondary abilities. Chapter Seven is the obligatory Storytelling chapter. However, this is actually a useful addition, for once. A lot of really interesting tips are given, as well as analysis of some common poor techniques in structure (which I found particularly useful in critiquing my own style) as well as a nice television series metaphor that does a lot for helping you organize structure (more so than the novel metaphor used in previous versions). Chapter Eight is the weakest part of the book, focusing on rotes, devices, and enhancements (genetic, cybernetic, and biotech). To start, the rotes are deplorable. A full third of them lack any sort of scientific explanation and a half of those remaining use it in a cheesy and dishonest manner. An example of the first problem is a nice rote called 'Ace of Diamonds', which causes a person to have bad luck. That's it. No scientific explanation, no technological focus. An example of the second is a rote which lets you make someone sick by telling them an urban legend about how something they just ate was bad for them (using MSG as the example). Please. Just sad. The devices aren't quite so bad but focus too much on cool cars and attack helicopters and not enough on actually useful common tools. Finally, the enhancements are the best part of the chapter, going into manifestations of the permanent paradox that such things give you (such as the genetic defects of genegineered beings) and giving some reasonable and fairly priced examples. The only down side is that the prices don't seem to jive well with the Enhancements background given earlier. The correspondance isn't clearly stated (are the 'background points' referred to as cost actual Background Points or the 'Points of Enhancements' points that the Enhancements Background gives you?). One nice touch was mention of implants and enhancements used to implement procedures (basically foci) and how these do not have to be paid for since they have no inate function, they just serve as tools for Enlightened Science. I like this a lot. Hell, in many ways I like it a lot better than Devices presented as actual costing Enhancement and think the concept should have gotten more than a couple sentences. Lastly, the Appendix gives some reference material to get down the mood and theme. Here, they seem to revert a bit to the 'old technocracy' line, pointing you towards lots of dystopian novels and movies about fascist governments. The same tired depictions of an oppressive organization that was all we used to have to go by. A few of the examples are worthwhile, though. In summary, I may have spent a considerable effort pointing out what I see as the flaws in this book, but a lot of that is personal taste and it should also be kept in mind that the ratio of words I dedicate to the flaws as compared to the high points doesn't reflect the book's ratio in any way. The Guide to the Technocracy is the first useful and believable supplement dealing with the group and finally makes a campaign focused on the Union plausible as well as just possible. It fixes a lot of the problems with previous supplements and with the main book, and gives a lot of good advice, particularly on how to run such a game. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)