Running a Technocracy Game, or "Are We Bad Guys or Good Guys?"

The World of Darkness, despite its name (or maybe because of it) is not black and white. There's no clear-cut good and evil like you have in D&D. Quite the opposite, there's a whole spectrum of gray that exists in the WoD, and within every Mage faction. The Traditions can be bad guys, and their longtime adversaries can be the heroes. This blog entry is going to look at how to flip the expectations of a Mage game to run a Technocratic Union chronicle.

"You didn't know about level 7? There's a lot you don't know about the Union."

To start, the Technocracy has noble origins that carry over to its modern incarnation. Their core mission statement is simple: Protect humanity from the evils of the world. This is commonly defined as supernatural creatures such as vampires, werewolves, ghosts, spirits, faeries, and anything that seeks to harm or dominate humanity. Unfortunately, that also includes mages.

"But wait, aren't Technocrats mages? They use Spheres to create effects just like the Traditions, right?" Yes and no. While the Mage game system is the same, the Technocracy has its own non-magickal terminology. They don't gather in chantries or cabals, they organize themselves by construct and amalgam. Technocrats don't belong to Traditions, they are a part of a Convention of like-minded people. They don't cast magick, they enact procedures. And so on and so forth, separating themselves from anything potentially mystickal about who and what they are.

Except for the Harbingers of Avalon, but that's a whole other story.

"But how do you reconcile the fact that they've been the bad guys in Mage since first edition?" Here's where we get into those shades of gray. Like any large organization, the Union has good people and bad people within it. Most of those bad people are commonly encountered by the Traditions, and that's okay. The Technocracy also has good people with enough common sense to realize that an open hand can be just as effective as a closed fist. And even the actions of good people can be viewed as horrible to those on the wrong side of their acts. I'm pretty sure the vampire caught feeding on a hapless mortal is going to paint the Technocracy as the bad guys when they rush in to save that person. Just be careful if you start getting lenient with the things that go bump in the night. Control keeps tabs on every agent in the Union, and excessive breaches of their protocols will earn an agent a quick trip to Room 101 for conditioning to bring them back in line with the Technocracy's goals. (But even then, local protocols can be amended for special circumstances.)

And hey, sometimes it can be fun to play the bad guys. If you want to embrace the ruthless, faceless side of the Technocracy and steamroll the Traditions, go for it! There's nothing saying you have to be a goody two-shoes in a suit, and cutting loose against those hated Reality Deviants may be just what you're looking for. There's no wrong way to play the Technocracy, as long as you keep their core concept of "protectors of humanity" front and center.

More like protectors of the status quo, amirite?

A Technocracy game might be a good place to start a group that doesn't want to buy into the whole metaphysical mumbo-jumbo of esoteric pratices and "magick with a k" style of gameplay. If your group likes unofficial government agency stories like S.H.I.E.L.D., Kingsman, and the like, the Technocratic Union might be just what they're looking for. Aside from the Mage 20 corebook and Book of Secrets, I'd recommend the Guide to the Technocracy and the assorted original and revised Convention books for this type of game, bundled together conveniently at DriveThruRPG!

Got any specific questions about running a Technocracy-centric Mage game? Drop 'em in the comments section below, and I'll answer them in detail!