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Here, some engagement. Please keep it up

I’ll definitely be using awakening to run the mages in the background of our game but will be borrowing heavily from ascension with the technocracy and stuff concerning the deep umbra

22:30 haha you got me, I literally went "ohhh yeah!". that was a good laugh

Thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It provided context for some of the founding concepts and systems I’d otherwise be unaware of. The idea of mortal belief pushing back, beyond just paradox, was very interesting. I especially liked the idea of all the doors in a building locking in response to vulgar magic. Reality pushing back and acting like a pressure gage for players, the needle heading towards red. Adding an immediate obstacle to be resolved and a foreboding sense of danger building. The section on the awakened being responsible for the darkness in the world and how this forms grudges between factions felt like a great primer for new players. This is something that could fit on an index card and highlight why each faction is hostile towards the others. The explanation of Oracles and why a Mage may leave Earth were very useful as well. Lots to takeaway here and I do hope this ends up becoming a series of episodes.

An especially useful episode for storytellers, full of handy hints and tips. I found sections on pacing, planning vs improvisation and NPCs particularly helpful. From two storytellers of Mage who’ve run games for me, I know they’ve struggled with having a workable plot when your characters can literally do anything they can think of. With that in mind, this episode is a must for new Mage storytellers and a helpful exploration for anyone more experienced who’s run into difficulties on occasion.

started with 1e, bought the book last year but didn't get around to cracking into it last month. this video's helped put a lot of that lore into perspective, and i think i favor a lot of it over newer stuff. the creative ways for dealing with paradox spirits especially seems cool. not sure if my players are familiar with mage, but i know beyond a shadow of a doubt they aren't familiar with mage 1e. i'm looking forward to turning them on their heads with all this.

I ran a few 1e games when I got the POD of the book (Really wanted the core book of every edition). The thing that completely flabbergasted me system wise is that there seem to be no rules for Rituals or extended casting rolls. Which means that if your effect needs 4 successes and you have Arete 3, well, spent a WP and hope every die is a success! Add to that the rule that says that if you fail an effect the consensus has rejected that change and you cannot try it again that scene. Want to fly, but failed the roll? No more flying that scene! Mental! Was a fun iteration of the rules to run though...

I am sad the Ka Luon never got explored beyond a total of like 1 page of information spread across multiple books.

your show is a D- in it's denial of reality. LOL Sabbati Tzevi , jacob frank & basil zarahoff.

As someone who used to play a lot of Mage and is really curious about Mage the Awakening, it is hard to explain how useful and intersting your videos are. Thank you.

Awakening system, Ascension setting.

THANK YOU for this episode, this is exactly what I needed, I'll be checking out the books

Another take a drink game which would kill you while watching this podcast is subtle and not so subtle digs at D&D.

Sorry to mess with the 69 upvotes

You guys both mentioned 2077, but what I think you meant was Cyberpunk 2020 or RED, because that's what you were describing. 2077 isn't a tabletop, it's a video game. If you count Edgerunners, it's also an anime. Cyberpunk 2077 installed empathy into my cyberbrain and then turned it on for the first time. The scene with the doll for Automatic Love and the story of Joshua for the Sinnerman sidequest both absolutely changed my life beyond any reversal or repair. Edgerunners gave me the permanent sadness debuff alondside constant aoe psychic damage.

I absolutely love Orpheus, more people need to integrate it into their WoD games

Special guest terry's sniffling nose had a lot of great insights.

Holy shit who suggested the changeling world view for mages, that's amazing. Denial the splat. That's AMAZING.

As a fellow not (but almost) backer, I never guessed the first review I'd hear of Yazeba's B&B would be on a Mage the Ascension podcast 😂

I like how the author mentions that if a player wants the cannibal flaw they should get their heads checked out… vampire was always the most popular line

I loved the talk about numbers and probability distributions, i is definitely the goofball friend of the protagonist who is actually useful, and I think one of my favourite probability distribution that I have not seen used in TTRPGS is the way DotA 2 uses pseudo-random distribution, where every time you don't get a crit (or a chance based special effect) you become more likely to get it, for example on the first swing the chance to crit is like 0.3% to crit, on the next swing its 1.5% then 3.2% etc, the effect is that it feels like the normal distribution but it's very unlikely that you never land a crit, and when you haven't landed one in a while it's like you've 'charged' it

Ive had this idea for my Mage chronicle that Night Folk are ironically apart of Consensus therefore they dont cause paradox. In this way for Technocrats hunting nightfolk is busy work not the top priproty. It also gives the technocracy an ideaological division as to what reality should look like.

Hard to answer because I'm very happy with M20 as it is. But for M5 I think Like @Forsparda, It might be good to access the magic(k) rules in the sames part of the book. But It'll be important to make sure that the game conserve it's freedom of options, wether it is in its magic(k) system or in its storytelling instruments: I hope that we won't have any moral system of conduct like humanity, or rage... But it's very important to devellope the relationship with avatar. But I have somehow the impression to not be in the majority when saying this, who knows this is maybe just an impression?

Also- The link for James' patreon takes you to Travis's instead...?

I would only change one of each. The setting change I would make is that Terry is no longer just a podcaster only, but a podcaster with creative direction at Paradox who has dictation over the coming media landscape for Mage. The system change I would make is that Terry would be given more power to storytell as he sees fit, thus making my setting change more applicable and appropriate. Cmon Paradox. Give this man a job.

When I ran Mage years ago, I dropped the Technocracy as a concept, and instead used the Banishers from Awakening.

Terry finally just throws his hands in the air and says, "Fine!" and begins writing his own TTRPG based on his experiences with mage when...?

Easy, Id put all the rules together make them super simple to find all of them for any part, like all the rules for familiars and the drawbacks instead of being spread throughout the book they would all be condensed into one section, combat? everything you can do in combat all in one chapter clearly marked everything from init to weapons, no rules in sidebars or tables in the other end of the book, imagine all the rules for casting magic, the bonus's the drawbacks everything in one chapter simply called "The arte" no you dont have to hunt around all rules about magic are there and only there, skills, talents and knowledges clearly marked followed by any secondary's. I suppose what I'm saying is that I would just hire an editor that isn't psychotic

This is a good primer. I wish I would have listened to it like a year ago.

This topic did NOT need an episode 😐

something about creating a sheet to track a romance feels very inorganic and weird, also if your writing an rp where your characters are fucking keep that to yourselves maybe

Wait, so is the implication that your arm was in a brace because the pre release mage copy broke it? Or because you broke it getting the pages all sticky?

I get the feeling you guys don't like Mage 20 all too much lol

Never going to be a fan of narrative game design. It's always putting the cart before the horse. We don't go fishing to get fishing stories, we go fishing to catch fish and sometimes a real organic story comes out of it. Likewise the conflation of storytelling and roleplaying will always be a blight on the hobby.

Not that ive had the chance to run (m)any games, but next time i do: im making everyone dress in full character costume and turning the tabletop on its head and making my players go outside for every game session. Y'all are going to touch grass and like it!

I am always happy to hear an interview with Justin Achilli! Thank you!

Blech. Quit. This sucks.

You guys seem to be failing to think holistically about the worlds you're exploring lately. Belief in angels is so far removed from the spirituality interwoven into most eastern cultures that they are not remotely comparable. Much of the eastern nations still believe in and practices ancient forms of magic, like: literally, in real life. Take one look at how well Japan has done as a nation since abandoning war and living peacefully with their nature through Shinto teachings. Being brainwashed by the Lie of superstition is not an awareness of the forces that shape Concensus, so it makes perfect sense actually that these cultural paradigms would operate on entirely different structural foundation.

I like to run the syndicate as having caught onto and purged Pentex influence from the convention. And now have just the biggest wounded pride induced *hateboner* for the corporation. To the degree that if they get a chance to hack away at the hydra. They’ll take it with gusto.

Order of hermes mages are those people that put mirrors in front of their toilets

I think Kubo and the Two Strings is probably the best western media representation of Japanese hsien

I am dually disappointed and relieved I never bought this book back in the day.

Adams little "uh oh" when he was called the leading correspondent on east Asia might be the funniest bit that's ever happened on the podcast.

I gotta be real I got real confused I thought at first this was a podcast about being a legit mage and trying to ascend then you started talking about books and shit

Given there was a lot of AD&D references, that got me thinking what if the Obyrith are the leftovers of Wyrm/entropy/Nephandi of WoD who sent their mental essence across the void between universes. creating the shard of ultimate evil and plunging the D&D multiverse into it's own slow death.

Scattered thoughts about the book: I do like the Hsien a lot, even though it's confusing how they're part of the Changeling line despite having nothing to do with Changelings in any way. I wish we had more detail about the Kiths (and a rabbit kith, so we could play moon rabbits) and what an average session looks like. The Yin and Yang worlds are a bit confusing too. Yin is just the Underworld, okay, gotcha. But the Yang world is the Middle Umbra *and* the Hight Umbra *and* the Dreaming all at once? And the Yomi hells are in between the Yin and Yang worlds? Too confusing. I rather like the fact the Hsien are firmly part of the Celestial Bureaucracy, reminds me of the Sidereal Exalted. I think one could tell a fun chronicle with the Hsien, Wu Lung and the Chinese mummies for example.

Mucha is pronounced very differently. Ch is similar to J in Spanish (Juan.)

Most that I have ever learned about the Euthanatos , keep up the good work. They should make a TV series about this stuff , if done right it could be big

This was a very interesting and enlightening conversation. Thrice Great is aptly named...this is my literal 3rd time listening and I've already ordered the main book and an extra one to pique my interest. Cheers on your excellent interview and this is, though very niche, a fascinating subject. Cheers! To all Mages.....

'Rampant' not 'rampart'. 'Rampant' is a heraldic stance: the lion on the flag of Scotland is rampant. A rampart is a militarry wall.