Architecture made of telephone poles and mud.

Armor made from street signs.

Lanterns made from stop lights.

The treasure map: a list of survivalists in the area but due to the total lack of street signs and address markers, it is more like a cryptic pirate map with X marking the spot.

Bone Highway: tens of thousands of automobiles with people's bones inside

The librarian: two kinds of books - good books and kindling

The theme song to AW in my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxoD9zWY9Rg

Los Angeles Is Burning by Bad Religion



Somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of blue St. Anne’s skirts are billowing
But down here in the city of limelights the fans of Santa Anna are withering
And you can't deny the living is easy if you never look behind the scenery
It's show time for dry climes and bedlam is dreaming of rain
When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burning
This is not a test of the emergency broadcast system
Where Malibu fires and radio towers conspire to dance again
And I cannot believe the media Mecca - they're only trying to peddle reality
Catch it on prime-time, story at nine
The whole world is going insane
When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burning
Jacaranda boughs are bending in the haze
More a question than a curse
How could hell be any worse?
The flames are stunning, the cameras running, so take warning!
When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burning

Oh man! I would be all over this shit.

Thanks, Peter.

This is a slow burn.  I'd like to play AW first but I'm already jotting down notes.  I will write more as I can.

But I can't help but jump WAY ahead of myself and wonder how much the ArM license could possibly cost.

Actual rules for troupe style play that work, rules for group research (something like...everyone comes to the table with 3 things:

• Some bit of history about the year or the region in which the covenant is set
  
  Some bit of mythology/religion from the region in which the covenant is set.
  
  A vague idea for a magical place whose true nature will be discovered through play.[/i])

With a bunch of different kinds of wizards ala the Houses of Hermes, maybe 3 different kinds of custos (Those Who War, Those Who Pray, Those Who Toil) and grogs as public property for the table. 

Magic as a move with really cool failure bits.  I used to GM Ars Magica, praying that players would botch their magic rolls.

Oh, this makes me ache.