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Agoramancy (3e)

I’m sure I got the seed for this somewhere else, but I can’t find it in my notes. If anyone knows, please post in comments so that I can properly attribute the OP.

Social media is older than most people think; older than most Agoramancers anyway. True social media emerged in the mid-1990s, with the invention of platforms like GeoCities, Classmates.com, and SixDegrees.com. While instant messaging and chat clients already existed, SixDegrees was unique as it was the first online service designed for people to connect using their actual names instead of anonymously. It boasted features like profiles, friends lists, and school affiliations, making it the very first social networking site. Since then, similar sites have proliferated to the point that social media is an integral part of modern life, to the delight and detriment of all.

Agoramancers embrace the fact that modern media isn’t a bunch of isolated pieces of entertainment, they’re all connected, accessible and, most importantly, interactive. Because the barriers to participation have been lowered, you can witness an important event, give your opinion, and the world will hear it through the internet. You can make a video, and the world will applaud at the end. Everyone can have their 15 minutes of fame. Everyone’s a creator, and can continue creating, based on what others have created. It’s an unfolding network of social connections, and it’s glorious.

Of course, the paradox of social media is that despite being an open forum for community and the free exchange of ideas, it inevitably ends up insular, toxic and isolating. Far from a wild west of individuality, social media is really run by vast, inhuman corporations that maintain their hold by buying and controlling every aspect they can. Sure, this has both cheapened and personalized media, but since modern media belongs to everyone, there’s no central, unifying voice. Creating media is like shouting to a crowd, in a room that’s filled with a hundred other voices who are shouting just as loud as you are.

When the first Agoramancers emerged, there was spirited online discussion about what to name the new School. The suggestion of the classic structure of Visiobibliomancy was met with derision, as was the modernist construction of SoMeMancy, and every other proposal put forward. The flame war was vicious; a baptism of fire in which the nascent School was tempered. By the time the threads had cooled, Agoramancy (named for the Agora) had emerged as the victor; mostly because the original combatants had burned out or moved onto more interesting arguments.

Ω: 1

Domain: Agoramancy primarily governs beliefs, opinions, and emotions, more truthiness than objective truth. You can’t use it to check an archive, or learn something that “everybody knows”, but you could use it to observe events as they happen.

Generate a Minor Charge: Spend four hours continuously observing the media – YouTube surfing, crawling your Facebook, flipping through Twitter, it doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t completely stop for any reason. Dividing your attention between it and a background task is fine, but the focus required will make all but the most trivial tasks impractical to perform.
Alternately, create a media work that is witnessed by a minimum of 1,000 people, of which 900 must not know you. An episode of a web series, a blog post, a Facebook status, a YouTube video… hell, a YouTube comment, so long as enough people intentionally see it. Further, you’ll gain another charge for each work you have created when the number of people who have seen it crosses a new order of magnitude (so, at 10,000; 100,000, 1,000, 000, etc.).

Taboo: You need to have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening. As a result, if you spend three continuous hours and awake without observing social media, you taboo. Better make sure that wherever you’re going has the internet.

Starting Charges: 8 Minor

AMA
Cost: 1 minor
After you cast this spell, your Identities gain the Tactical feature, for a number of hours equal to the result unit. While the effect is active, if you give someone advice relevant to your Identity and they follow it, they get to Flip-Flop their check.


Delete Your Account
Cost: 1 minor
Cast this spell on a target, and, for a number of hours equal to the result units, they’ll be unable to log on to anything that requires a username and password. Every time they try, the system will react as if their account doesn’t exist. Re-registering won’t help, as the system will immediately forget that one too, and any technical support called in will be similarly stymied. The spell only affects individualized accounts, so group-based security systems like keycodes work fine, as do facial recognition, fingerprints, and other biometrics. After the effect ends, the accounts return as if nothing had happened.

ELI5
Cost: 1 minor
Get someone who’s better than you at something to explain it to you in simple terms, while you cast this spell. In return, for minutes equal to the result, you can ignore Difficulties and penalties related to the Ability referenced in the explanation you received, and you can Flip-Flop one check you make while the spell is in effect.

FIFY
Cost: 1 minor
Why bother arguing with someone online, when you can instead put words in their mouth? Cast this and you can change a number of words in an online posting (comment, article, blog post, etc.) equal to the sum of the result. The targeted text must be written by someone other than you, and the change happens on the underlying media, though screenshots and copied text from before the spell are unaffected. The change persists until someone changes it again.

G2G
Cost: 1 minor
When you gotta go, this spell makes it easier; cast it to add +20 to your Pursuit checks for minutes equal to casting result. Some adepts call this OMW, but the effect is the same.

Rickroll
Cost: 1 minor
Cast this annoying spell on a device and all its media files are transformed into an audio or video representation of Never Gonna Give You Up. In addition, any links initiated out from the device, whether hyperlinks or phone numbers, all go to the same irritating destination.

YOLO
Cost: 1 minor
This can only be cast when you’re about to do something reckless or outright stupid (as agreed by present company). When cast, it allows you to substitute your Agoramancy for a number of checks equal to the lower result digit, but only if the action has a chance to get you hurt or make the situation worse if you fail. After an hour, any unused checks dissipate.

ASL
Cost: 2 minor
Only useful while you’re communicating with someone over media (including email), when cast this spell informs you of the other party’s age, gender identity, and geographical location. If the communication isn’t live – such as an email or comment section post – then you learn the information as it was at the time of the posting.

Flame War
Cost: 2 minor
For you to be able to cast this, the target must have a device on them capable of connecting to social media. When you do so, their device pings or buzzes with a notification; if they respond to it, the spell kicks into gear. The victim’s psyche is assaulted with a barrage of the most angry, vitriolic social commentary that the internet can produce, provoking an Isolation-4 check.

ORLY?
Cost: 2 minor
Cast this on someone when they try to make a good impression or convince an audience of something. The spell sows doubt and skepticism into an audience, causing them to question the sincerity or truth of whatever the target is saying (manifested as a -20 to Connect, Lie, Status, or whatever social Identity they’re employing). The maximum number of affected audience members is equal to the result, but that’s typically enough for a crowd.

IANAD
Cost: 2 minor
That’s right, you’re not, no matter how many How To channels you subscribe to. Still, this spell is good enough to restore a number of Wound Points equal to the result units, for a while anyway; after a number of hours equal to the tens of the result, the damage returns, except for a single point.

News Feed
Cost: 2+ minor
This spell can be used on yourself or another (for an extra charge), and to initiate it, the target must be touching a device with a screen when the spell is cast. Thereafter, for a number of minutes equal to the result, the screen will display a view from just above the target’s head, as if an invisible floating camera were following them. The feed will generally follow the target, but will often focus on things that would be of particular interest to them (the target) – though the target doesn’t need to be aware that the focus is interesting.


NSFW
Cost: 2 minor
Cast this spell on a device connected to the internet, and it’ll begin playing something visceral and offensive – loud, graphic porn is the default setting. The content plays for a number of minutes equal to the result units, and will refuse to shut off, even if unplugged; though destroying the device will stop it.

Seen Worse
Cost: 2 minor
When you’re subject to a Stress check, you can reflexively cast this and adopt a blasé attitude. The spell will lower the rank of the incoming check by 2, blunting the edge of the trauma.

Swipe Right
Cost: 2 minor
In order to use this, you’ll need a picture of the target on your screen; cast the spell while swiping right. For minutes equal to the result, the target will see you in a more positive light, manifesting as a bonus to your Connect. The precise bonus depends on whether you and the target have compatible sexual preferences; if you do, then the bonus is +30, otherwise it’s +10. Note that social and gender preferences are irrelevant for the purpose of the spell, and could result in Self checks for yourself and/or the target, depending on how things play out.

TL;DR
Cost: 2 minor
To cast this spell, you need to have someone explain or lay out a complex situation or problem to you, while you zone out browsing social media. When they’re done, you’ll be able to offer a succinct summation of the issue, that highlights an important relevant plot element.

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