Sympathetic Links: Smashed Penny Souvenirs

[devonapple]

I've been collecting smashed penny souvenirs from my game town (San Francisco) for use as Fate Point tokens. Not every city has them, but most cities with a bit of tourism do.

I just realized one possible game use: sympathetic links. I noticed that when the machine smashes a penny, a bit of the copper gets worn off. The machine has a wire or plate which scrapes away the shavings, presumably to keep the mechanisms clean (one could possibly make up a conspiracy to collect copper for industrial resale).

But for our purposes, there may be enough copper in that machine for a sympathetic link. And if you happen to collect one of these souvenir pennies from a machine near the actual location it depicts, it makes them easy to reference. Until the machine gets serviced, those copper filings will remain.

Which begs another question: can a sympathetic link be used if you did not create it yourself? Say a Wizard found one of these tokens, and it happened to still have a viable link. Perhaps a villain is using these to get around using some teleport ritual, and the players take one of these from a defeated agent of the villain.

Would he be able to incorporate it into a tracking spell and track the target of the link?
Would you, as a GM, allow these links to be remotely researched, using an involved Divination ritual?
Or would you insist each one get tracked down on foot?

Update: have acquired a small hoard of these coins now for my game!
Update 2: the players approved!

[sinker]

I love the idea! As you said it would only work in a place with a lot of those machines (or one really critical machine). I live in Denver, CO and I can only think of one, though there are probably a lot more down in Colorado Springs and up in the Vail/Aspen/Breck area.

They are sympathetic links and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be used as such. I'm wondering if there's a specific reason why you're asking. Did you have some thought as to why they couldn't be used?

[Aminar]

Have you by chance read The Name of The Wind.

Your mentioning sympathy reminded me of it.

Now I want to convert sympathy to fate...

Note to self, bug Pat next time I see him...

[devonapple]

They are sympathetic links and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be used as such. I'm wondering if there's a specific reason why you're asking. Did you have some thought as to why they couldn't be used?

I was mostly looking for a plausibility check. I'd certainly allow them as a surveillance/divination focus, but the current distribution of such machines would make them VERY good for dealing with a mystery involving the Wharf or Chinatown, but only marginally useful in a select few other tourist locations (several of which *do* happen to be Locations in the setting).

I'd *like* them to be good for teleportation foci, but it's a prohibitively priced method in DFRPG. At least it is for Evocation. For Thaumaturgy, perhaps less of an issue.

[sinker]

Then yeah, seems totally plausible to me.

[Tedronai]

So long as they're using the coins as links to the shavings, and not the other way 'round, it should work without a hitch.
Doing it the other way 'round? That'd be a pain in the arse, trying to figure out which bit of shaving corresponded to which coin...

[devonapple]

Perhaps a future game could feature a villain Sponsored by an entity for which the kind of quick motion Teleportation provides would be an appropriate use of Thaumaturgy-As-Evocation, and that this particular villain would get to sidestep the traditionally cumbersome shift requirements required for Teleportation. The players wouldn't be able to learn the same trick (owing to its ties to a distasteful Sponsor) but they could combat it by gathering enough of these to be able to track it.

Doing it the other way 'round? That'd be a pain in the arse, trying to figure out which bit of shaving corresponded to which coin...

Absolutely, though I could envision a divination ritual in which the players spread around the collected copper shavings from a machine known to have been used as such a focus, onto a map of The City. Most of the coins would be in other cities or states, out of the range of the ritual, but some shavings might conglomerate around the location of the villain's coin, as well as the homes of the few other Citydwellers who happened to also gather such coins. They would have a few leads to eliminate before confronting the actual villain.

Have you by chance read The Name of The Wind.

Your mentioning sympathy reminded me of it.

I have not! Sympathetic links are definitely a component in Dresden Files magic, though. I presume other Hermetic principles would be equally valid.

[EldritchFire]

That...is a brilliant idea!

Also, I'd think that after a while the coins would stop working, and new ones would need to be "minted." Cleaning crews, wind, rain, etc could lead to the shavings being scatter too far apart to work for a link.

Also, just wear-ad-tear on the coin themselves might dull the edges that got shaved, thus "dulling" the link.

Just some thoughts.

-EF

[devonapple]

Also, I'd think that after a while the coins would stop working, and new ones would need to be "minted." Cleaning crews, wind, rain, etc could lead to the shavings being scatter too far apart to work for a link.

The machines are enclosed, so moderate weather wouldn't be an issue, but catastrophic weather would be a concern. Other than that, the only real risk is a visit by the maintenance personnel. Then it would be time to mint a new one. Assuming the machine was still there.

And, of course, the surprise when a "valid" coin ends up leading not to the bustling tourist hub, but to the back of the truck, or inside a storage facility, because the machine has been taken away for service, or is being retired!

Of especial concern to you criminal spellcasters: almost all of these coin machines live somewhere at night, behind locked doors. Some in museums. Many in stores (albeit usually filled with t-shirts and souvenirs). Even if teleportation is prohibitively expensive, you can probably tag a "coin from that machine inside the museum" for a bonus to teleport past the security measures.

[Aminar]

I have not! Sympathetic links are definitely a component in Dresden Files magic, though. I presume other Hermetic principles would be equally valid.

Sympathetic links are a big part of Name of the Wind and Dresden.  Pat(author of the NotW and the person who recommended Dresden Files to me, has made numerous comments about how he constantly feels like he's ripping Jim off)

What you were describing just reminded me of NotW quite a bit.  I'd recommend it, possibly the best book I have ever read.

[devonapple]

Sympathetic connections are nothing new. The principles of Hermetic Magic include Correspondence (sympathy) as well as Contagion, Mentalism, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender.

[Aminar]

I know, but in literature they are a rare thing(in my experience.)

[bitterpill]

Sympathetic Magic is one of the oldest occult schools of Magic; it is ancient and far older than both the name of the wind and Dresden files. If you think about the classic example of Sympathetic Magic is Voodoo Dolls you are creating a Simulacrum of a person so that things that effect the Simulacrum effect the person, I have no idea how old Voodoo is but I am guessing it is older than the dresden files.

[Aminar]

I know.  But as my post above mentions, it isn't common in fantasy settings.  Looking at historical magic sympathetic links and demon summoning are the original forms of magic while this calling fire and lightning bit is more of a deity thing.  Fantasy likes the chuck fire and lightning far more.(likely because it is cinematic and demon summoning has a negative image 6 miles across and made of hellfire.)

[devonapple]

I love the idea! As you said it would only work in a place with a lot of those machines (or one really critical machine). I live in Denver, CO and I can only think of one, though there are probably a lot more down in Colorado Springs and up in the Vail/Aspen/Breck area.

Here is a list of all of the Colorado machines! Denver has about seven, it appears, several of which produce 2-sided souvenirs!