First time player struggling to connect with the Traditions
For some context, I've played Vampire the Masquerade a fair bit but I've always been curious to branch out into the other WoD splats. My friends and I settled on Mage for our next campaign and so far we are all super excited to try it! The lore is fascinating, and it has some of the most unique gameplay mechanics I've seen in any TTRPG. However, I've run into a rather frustrating problem...
None of the Traditions have really 'clicked' for me.
I want to say that I don't think this is the game's problem. This is definitely a 'me' problem.
After doing some digging on the Traditions they all seem fairly well written and very fun. Hell, all my friends gravitated towards a Tradition of their preference. But...something isn't resonating with me the way it did for some of the VtM Clans. I remember when I first started exploring VtM, there were some clans that just instantly spoke to me and I felt really inspired to make characters for them.
I know for VtM, each clan was designed to encapsulate a specific type of vampire archetype from pop culture. You want to play a sexy vampire, go Toreador. You want to play the vampire bikers from Lost Boys, The Brujah are for you. You want to play the scary ugly Orlok Vampire, then you can play Nosferatu. ect
From what I've seen, the Traditions in MtA were designed in a similar way. Each one is kind of meant to play to the fantasy of a specific type of wizard from pop culture. Verbena are Druids/Witches. Virtual Adepts are magical hackers in the vein of the Matrix movies, ect.
I suppose my big problem is that none of the traditions really 'fit' the archetype of mage that I most enjoy playing/reading about in various media.
My favorite depictions of wizards are how they are portrayed in the stories of Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Magic in those stories has this kind of...forbidden Eldritch mystique. It's dirty and unnatural and weird. Magic comes across as otherworldly and visceral so every encounter with it, and the people that can use it, is terrifying.
Looking through the Traditions I found thee that came close to scratching that 'eldritch' itch, but all of them kind of fell short for me in one way or another.
Euthanatoi: Entropy magic sounds really cool and interesting, but they seem to function more like an order of magical assassins than a coven of Necromancers. Kind of give off Dark Brotherhood/Faceless Men vibes. Which is awesome, but not really what I'm looking for
Verbena: While they are life mages, I love how raw and gritty their magic is. They definitely capture that 'visceral' aspect of magic I enjoy. I don't like it when magic is 'too clean'. Both in the physical and spiritual sense. For me, it makes thematic sense that if you want to work great magic, you need to get your hands (And soul) dirty. My problem with the Verbena is that they don't really seem to have that 'otherworldly' aspect to them. Their magic is very much in tune with the natural world and I generally prefer when magic is portrayed as more alien and unnatural.
Order of Hermes: I do love their style of esoteric magic quite a bit, and real world esotericism has always fascinated me. However...Their magic is too clean. Too civilized and standardized for my taste. It's probably the closest to what I'm looking for and probably the closest thing to an 'eldritch' wizard the Traditions have...but it's so academic that it kind of saps the mystique out of the magic for me. On top of that, the Force's sphere feels kind of...well, like a reskin of the Destruction skill from Skyrim. It's largely about manipulating worldly elements to make something explode. Which, while extremely badass, feels a bit at odds with Esoteric magic. Takes some of the 'high strangeness' out of esoteric magic when it is primarily being used to cast firebolt.
There are also the Hollow Ones, but I'm not super into the 'goth/punk street mage' much either.
Now, I know I'm very new to all of this. We're just in the early character creation/planning phase of the Chronicle. I realize I could be waaaay off the mark. I could have a complete misunderstanding of the Traditions. Hell, in some ways I kind of hope I have.
I suppose I'd like to know if anyone has had a similar experience to mine, where they liked the setting, but the factions didn't connect with them? Perhaps I need to adjust my expectations a bit? I'd love to play, but part of me is afraid that 'it might just not be a game for me'.
TL;DR I haven't felt a strong pull towards any Tradition because none of them really use magic in a way that inspires me. Any perspectives or corrections are deeply appreciated.