Ferris Bueller as Interpeted by Mage-The Ascension

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A look at the famous film character through the lens of the tabletop RPG Mage: the Ascension

Transcript of Ferris Bueller as Interpeted by Mage-The Ascension

In response to Shepherd:"ferris bueller is a great example of the coincidental mage i was talking about.he doesn't "do" anything, he just believes..."Actually he does plenty. A lot of it is ritualistic, too. I would say Ferris is a pretty powerful orphan, with probably time 3, corr. 3, entropy 2-3, and mind 3(maybe even 4), and has his ownidiosyncraticparadigm -- but he actually takes time to share with the audiences some beliefsand rules of his paradigm, and how his magic works.The computer, the sound FXthrough thesynthesizer, this is all part of his ritual to create a blanket mind meme effect,that Ferris is sick. He even gives us some pointers to his ritual (how to fake being sick to your mom without being sent to the doctor). Now some of this is quickly done (licking the palms), but some is pretty elaborate ritual (Setting up the dummy, the recordings set to the door buzzer...etc.)Of course, the only people unaffected are an unawakened NWO pencil-pusher (Rooney), and Ferris' sisterJeanie(who has a high willpower, for reasons that will become apparent later.).He has two acolytes (Cameron and Sloan), who aid him in his magic use. (Cameron might actually be a familiar, I'm not sure on this one)Most of Ferris' magic seems to be of the time/space-warping type, allowing him and his buds to do in one day in Chicago what it would take your average tourist a week to accomplish.We even get to see a oft-used rote of Ferris' twice -- TheMultiple-Line Phone Dupe. There is a lot more if you look for it, but those are some of the best examples. By the afternoon, Ferris must be pretty magically drained (especially after his using Wayne Newton-and-Beatles-as-focus magical effect -- the incantations of which we see him practicing in the morning shower.), so he heads to a node (The Art Institute of Chicago) for some meditation and quintessence-refueling.Now on Cameron being a familiar: There is the fact that Ferris seems to know intuitively that Cameron will be home on the day he needs him. In fact, Cameron might not be visible to Sleepers. The only other person we know that really interacts with Cameron (not counting when he does his phone-voice as part of Ferris magic) is Sloan, who as we know is Ferris' acolyte and sees the world through his paradigm. The minor exception to this is the garage attendant, who though he and Cameron do not actually exchange words, appears to look at Cameron, and seems to direct words at him (though it's not explicit). This makes sense, since the garage attendants are minor paradox spirits out for a little reality payback for some of Ferris' earlier exploits. Cameron, of course, can smell this as soon as they get in the garage, and tries to warn Ferris not to leave the Ferrari there. This next part is my primary reason for thinking Cameron is Ferris' familiar: I see his comatose state after witnessing the milage increase on his dad''s car (paradox) as Cameron eating the paradox for Ferris. There have been some minor paradox effects from all the magic Ferris uses through out the movie, such as the afore mentioned milage add-on from the garage attendants and the Dad showing up "coincidentally" at the same restaurant at the same time as the trio, but they are dealt with as they come, for the most part.Now so far, this has been a lot ofcoincidentalmagic in one day, and the domino effect is starting to add up theparadox, and so finally, near the end of the day, when Ferrisis attempting an effect to cover their tracks, which is already compounded by the paradox from before (the extra milage) the strain on reality is just a little too much, and paradox backlashes, destroying the Ferrari. It is at some point around here that Jeannie, who knows something is up and has been trying to catch Ferris all day, is sitting in the police station and meets - who? Charlie Sheen? No. Her Avatar.Yep, that's right. In the police station Jeanie meets her Avatar and has her awakening. The whole day has been leading up to this, and when she isreunitedwithFerris, it all becomes clear to her as she works right into Ferris' paradigm (the "visiting our sick grandmother" schtick) and she performs one of her first magical feats - presenting Rooney's wallet, which he "left" on the kitchen floor.Actually, since most of Ferris' magic seems to diverting attention from what is really happening and including others in a greater experience, this whole "day off" of his might have really been orchestrated to get his sister to awaken. Ferris Bueller might actually be someone of much greater power that previously thought (Archmage? Oracle? Who knows?).