Character Creation: Mystic Lilies

Ooh, spooky flowers. 

The Game: Mystic Lilies
The Publisher: Merry Mancer Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

Interesting game, this. I was really not sold on it - rather, it looked neat, just not really screaming "run me" - and then I read the example of play and that put the game into focus for me. It's not got a lot of context on its own, but seeing it in play helped with that. (I'll beat this drum forever: Always include an example of play, game designers who don't read this blog.)

Anyway, Mystic Lilies has the players taking on the roles of witches, but what that means kinda depends on the setting, and the players make up the setting. The larger question is "how open is magic" - are we in a world where magic exists and it's very obvious, or where few people know about it? Ooh, you know what, the world of John Wick would actually work as a setting for this game, since the "spells" depicted are presented mostly in terms of what they mean mechanically and contextualizing them is up to the players.

And, the game is designed for the players to be in competition, so something like John Wick: Chapter 4 with Wick, Caine, Mr. Nobody, and the Marquis de Wanker (or whatever his name was) as PCs would be perfectly doable, I think. 

ANYWAY, let's make a witch. Absent a setting, I'm going to pick one of the ones from the book. Ooh, I like this one:

There's more to it, some sample rooms and NPCs and suchlike, but that's a good enough start. "Limited" magic means that there aren't many magic-users, but they're powerful and magic can be pervasive without being obvious (I think that's where a John Wick-style game would fall, actually). 

So we start off with Stats. I think I want to play a character who's magically powerful but not necessarily experienced or knowledgeable, but who maybe thinks he is? So let's say my character is some kind of prince or something back where he's from, and thinks that makes him hot shit. I'll put my 4 into Instinct (which is about raw power), my 2 into Will, and my 0 into Logic. 

Next we choose a sign, representing personal style of magic. There are a bunch of these. Let's see here. I like Blood Sign, but that's maybe a little more visceral than I want. Ooh, no, I want Sound Sign. That's bombastic without being overtly "nobility" about it. 

Path is about "mixing in the physical setting." I don't know, it's not explained terribly well, but the intersection of Path and Sign seems to be what really makes up the character. Hmm. I like Emissary Path; one of the things about it is that you gradually spread your element wherever you go. Gotta think about what this dude's element is, though. Let's call it "gold" - he wears gold jewelry, and as he's around things get gilded edges (books, mirrors, trim, etc.). Maybe people start to turn blonde if they interact with him.

And now I need a name, and three descriptors for my aesthetic. Well, for my descriptors, I want "clean," "bombastic," and "gilded." His name is Prince Chrysos. I picture him as lean, clear skin, yellow/amber eyes, blond hair, wears white and gold, probably wears a gold torc on his head. He expects everyone to listen when he talks. 

And that'll do it, in fact.