Anyone played Mage: The Ascension?

ThraxThrax 🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
edited October 2011 in Gaming
I'm just starting to get into it after some prodding from a friend, and thus far I have to say I really enjoy the universe. I haven't been attracted to too many PnPs outside of D&D--something about them just never compared--but I find Mage pretty engaging.

So far I am most interested in the Euthanatos Tradition, probably starting with the Knights of Radamanyths and aspiring to something greater.

Long story short, I was just wondering if anyone had experience with the system and had thoughts to share.

Comments

  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited January 2011
    I played the crap out of old WoD Vampire, Mage and Hunter back in the day. The Technocracy played a large part in many of our stories. On of the best things about Mage (and WoD) back then was how powerful yet fragile the characters where. I played a Sons of Ether character for a short time and enjoyed it.

    My friend Forrest had a group who played a Mage game for a few years steadily. Early in the game, a party member double-crossed Forrest's character pretty hard and he swore he'd get revenge. Roughly 3 years later, both characters had developed well. The double-crosser became adept at persuasion and diplomacy. Forrest's was an introverted shooter. While the double-crosser was negotiating a big deal for their party, Forrest scryed on him then opened a portal behind the double-crosser's head, put the barrel of his rifle through the hole and assasinated the double-crosser. The players had no idea WTF happened, nor did the characters in-game.

    Euthantos are pretty sweet although I never got to play with them. They'd tie-in well to the greater WoD universe. If you're with a good group, I'm sure it'll be a very rewarding experience to play. Just watch out for Iteration X HIT Marks. ;)
  • StarmanStarman Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I haven't played Ascension, but I've played a fair bit of Mage: The Awakening. I really enjoy the new WoD games.

    My character, Grendel, is a shit-talking Thyrsus who thinks he's pretty much invincible until he accidentally summons a spirit that's way out his league.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2011
    Ran a year or so long campaign of Mage: The Awakening, then played a year long game of Mage: The Crusades (Mage during the Renaissance basically). Really enjoyed the game for the most part. Character design was neat and I enjoyed the concept behind how magic works. My biggest beef was the very artificial feeling of the bad guys. It just seemed like they threw it in there. They never really logically fit.

    Still though lots of fun for a couple years. But eventually we grew tired of it and went back to Warhammer.
  • FitzkriegFitzkrieg British Columbia
    edited December 2011
    Long story short, I was just wondering if anyone had experience with the system and had thoughts to share.

    Oh-ho-ho, it looks like someone is interested in White Wolf RPGs.

    I have quite a bit of experience with White Wolf systems, and I can honestly say that they have made my favourite tabletop games EVER.

    Mage: The Ascension is an Old World of Darkness setting, the newer version is Mage: The Awakening. Overall, I prefer nWoD over oWoD but there are, of course, purists.

    First off, in addition to a copy of the Mage corebook, you will also need a copy of the World of Darkness corebook as well. It is used for general merits and abilities for all World of Darkness modules.

    Mage is fun, but it's one of those games that everybody HAS to have a copy of the corebook or at least easy access to the spells chapter (either by printing it out or having the pdf or something), as you will be referring to it a lot. There is a lot of information to be used with regards to Mage, much more so than other WoD modules.

    That said, Mage is a little complex to dive right into, particularly with players and Storytellers who are new to the World of Darkness systems. I would say to try running a basic World of Darkness (all normal humans) two or three-shot game to get acquainted with the universal mechanics before running a game off of one of the modules.

    If you do end up running the game and Mage isn't your cup of tea, I would say to try a different module before giving up on WoD completely.

    My recommendations would be:
    Werewolf: The Forsaken (always a blast, Werewolf is arguably the easiest of the core modules to pick up and have fun with)
    (My personal favourite) Changeling: The Lost (a horse of a very different colour by comparison to Werewolf and Mage, you play people who have been taken to Arcadia by the Fae, but manage to escape back to a world that nobody even knows you left, focuses on reintegrating into society and continually evading the Fae who inevitably want to take you back)
    Geist: The Sin-Eaters (again, quite different from anything mentioned previously, your character died and ended up back in the world of the living with a ghost attached to them, oddly enough deals a lot with the dead)

    If you want to try something completely different from WoD, but with a similar system, try Exalted: Second Edition. IMO the best tabletop evarr.

    I'm not going to even start going on and on about Exalted of my own accord, but if you're interested about any of these systems, ask away.
Sign In or Register to comment.