Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Friday, November 02, 2007

Would you like to know what moon phase you were born under?

In the game, our gamemaster has adapted some of the ideas from White Wolf's Werewolf: the Apocalypse for the developing a system for witchcraft. In that game, a werewolf has one of five Auspices based on the moon he or she was born under. It determines some of the gifts a character has and some basic personality traits. The Auspices are:

New Moon--Ragabash--Trickster (my character Carol is this)
Crescent Moon--Theurge--Shaman/Seer
Gibbous Moon--Galliard--Bard
Half Moon--Philodox--Arbiter/Mediator/Judge/Counsellor
Full Moon--Ahroun--Warrior

We don't use the titles of Ragabash, Theurge, Galliard, Philodox, or Ahroun, but the characters who are witches in the game do have these Auspices.

So, seeing a perfect half moon tonight, I thought I'd check a moon phase utility from Sky and Telescope that gives the moon for an historical date to see what I would be under this system. Turns out I'm a day past the waning half, not quite crescent, so I'd be a Philodox.

Then I put the members of the game in and came up with a Galliard, three Philodoces, and a Ragabash.

That was a bit of fun. The utility also goes into the future. Also note that the box in the article is merely an illustration. To get to the actual utility you have to follow the link at the end of the article that says 'Click to open our Moon Box Utility'. Enjoy.

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