Mage: The Ascension

{{Short description|1993 tabletop role-playing game}} {{italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox game |title= ''Mage: The Ascension'' |image= Mageasce c.JPG |caption= ''Revised Edition'' cover |designer= Stewart Wieck, Christopher Earley, Stephan Wieck, Bill Bridges, Sam Chupp, Andrew Greenberg, Chris Hind |publisher= White Wolf Publishing |date= {{ubl| 19 August 1993 ({{abbr|ed.|edition}} 1)|December 1995 (ed. 2)|March 2000 (''Revised Edition'')|23 September 2015 (''20th Anniversary Edition'')}} |genre= Supernatural fiction Slipstream genre Technofantasy |system= Storyteller System |players=|AKA=MtA|footnotes= }}

'''''Mage: The Ascension''''' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the ''World of Darkness'' universe.

==History== Following the success of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Mage: The Ascension'' was released as the third of the five initial ''World of Darkness'' games. The first chapter of the ''Mage'' series was launched by White Wolf Publishing at the Gen Con gaming convention<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Varney |first=Allen |author-link=Allen Varney |date=December 1994 |title=Role-playing Reviews |magazine=Dragon |publisher=TSR, Inc. |pages=90–91 |issue=212}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=McLaughlin |first=Tom |date=May 1993 |title=Get ready—here comes the 1993 Gen Con Game Fair! |magazine=Dragon |publisher=TSR, Inc. |page=83 |issue=193}}</ref> on August 19, 1993. A second edition followed in December 1995,<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 1996 |title=White Wolf |magazine=Casus Belli |publisher=Excelsior Publications |page=14 |language=French |issue=91}}</ref><ref name="Mage">{{Cite web |title=Mage : The Ascension (1-56504-400-2) |url=http://www.legrog.org/jeux/mage-l-ascension/deuxieme-edition/mage-the-ascension-2eme-ed-en}}</ref> with a revised edition released in March 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title=2000 Release Schedule |url=http://www.white-wolf.com/retail/ReleaseSchedule.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000303032212/http://www.white-wolf.com/retail/ReleaseSchedule.html |archive-date=2000-03-03 |access-date=2020-12-27 |publisher=White Wolf Publishing}}</ref> In 2005, White Wolf Publishing merged with CCP Games. Following company layoffs in October 2011, White Wolf's Creative Director, Richard Thomas, founded Onyx Path Publishing to continue publishing Tabletop role-playing games.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-11-13 |title=Gaming Industry Innovators CCP and White Wolf to Merge |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gaming-industry-innovators-ccp-and-white-wolf-to-merge |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=GamesIndustry.biz |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions – Onyx Path Publishing |url=https://theonyxpath.com/about/faq/ |access-date=2024-03-16 |language=en-US}}</ref> Onyx Path Publishing later introduced the 20th Anniversary Edition of ''Mage: The Ascension'' in September 2015,<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 September 2015 |title=Now Available: Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition! |url=http://theonyxpath.com/now-available-mage-the-ascension-20th-anniversary-edition/}}</ref> representing the game's fourth iteration.

==Game setting== ''Mage: The Ascension'' is set in the fictional World of Darkness, a fictional modern Earth wherein supernatural entities clandestinely manipulate everyday life. Players and major characters are "Mages", normal people who "Awaken" to be able to manipulate reality, usually in an expression of gnosis. The metaplot of ''Mage: the Ascension'' involves a four-way struggle between an alliance of Mages called the Nine Mystical Traditions; the New World Order of the Technocracy, which relies on its technofantasical "paradigms" versus the Marauders, a disparate group of insane Mages; and the Nephandi, a coalition of Mages serving evil cosmic entities in the pursuit of cosmic oblivion.<ref name="Mage" /> Later editions of ''Mage: the Ascension'' introduce non-aligned Mage factions such as the "Hollow Ones", a group of Goth chaos magic practitioners.

==Rules== A key feature of ''Mage'' is its unique magic system. A character's magical expertise is described by allocating points to nine different "Spheres" of magical knowledge and influence: Correspondence, Entropy, Forces, Life, Mind, Matter, Prime, Spirit, and Time. Magical effects are largely spontaneously proposed by players and adjudicated by the game master, informed by the level of 'expertise' in the relevant Spheres of the effect; this is as opposed to the popular system of magic in ''Dungeons & Dragons'', which relies upon predetermined descriptions of magical spells.

==Reception==

Chris Kubasik reviewed ''Mage: The Ascension'' in ''White Wolf'' #38 (1993), rating it a 4 out of 5 and stated that "''Mage'' offers the jaded gamer something intriguing: creativity. The rules of the game, through both cleverness and sloppiness, challenge ''all'' the players to be imaginative, not just the Storyteller."<ref name="WW38">{{Cite magazine |last=Kubasik |first=Chris |authorlink=Christopher Kubasik |date=1993|title=Mage: The Ascension Feature Review |magazine= White Wolf Magazine |number=38 |page=43-47 |url=https://imgur.com/a/eXnwt2m}}</ref>

''Mage: The Ascension,'' 2nd Edition was given an 8/10 by ''Arcane''<nowiki/>'s Adam Tinworth, who called it "good for those who enjoy involved and challenging games." He noted that while it could be difficult for new players to grasp the game's background, develop their style of magic, or figure out how the magic worked; the gameplay system itself would be easy to understand.<ref name="Arcane5">{{cite journal|last=Tinworth|first=Adam|author-link=Adam Tinworth|date=April 1996 |title=Mage: The Ascension 2nd Edition|journal=Arcane|publisher=Future Publishing|issue=5|pages=62–63}}</ref> ''Mage: The Ascension'' was ranked 16th out of 50 in ''Arcane'' magazine's 1996 reader poll of the most popular role-playing games of all time. The magazine's editor, Paul Pettengale, commented: "Mage is perfect for those of a philosophical bent. It's a hard game to get right, requiring much thought from players and referees alike, but its underlying theme—the nature of reality – makes it one of the most interesting and mature role-playing games available."<ref name="Arcane14">{{cite journal|last=Pettengale|first=Paul|date=Christmas 1996|title=Arcane Presents the Top 50 Roleplaying Games 1996|journal=Arcane|publisher=Future Publishing|issue=14|pages=25–35}}</ref>

Mikael Sebag, in the journal ''Games and Culture'', commented that "the in-your-face postmodernity of ''Mage: The Ascension'', subjectivity fuels and defines the mage's spellcraft".<ref name="Games and Culture (2025)">{{Cite journal |last=Sebag |first=Mikael D. |date=2025-01-01 |title=“A Definition of Enchantment”: A New Approach to the Analysis of Magic Systems in Fantasy Games |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15554120241310925 |journal=Games and Culture |language=en |doi=10.1177/15554120241310925 |issn=1555-4120|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> He explained that "the game is richly inspired by historical and living magical traditions (including many [<nowiki/>Antoine Faivre] would identify as belonging to Western esotericism)", noting the "central theme" is the search for Ascension.<ref name="Games and Culture (2025)" /> Sebag highlighted that ''Mage: The Ascension'' has a "comprehensive and richly-designed game system" except it does not include Ascension mechanics which "communicates the postmodern slant of ''Mage''{{'s}} core philosophy; the nature of reality, like Ascension, is subjective" and "systems exist only to describe that which is universally agreed upon".<ref name="Games and Culture (2025)" /> Sebag stated the magic system is one such universal system, "which, however variously different approaches to spellcasting may be described in the fiction of the game, uses a standardized set of formulas and in-game statistics to resolve these effects. Ascension, by contrast, is an experience so divine that it can be reduced to neither textual description in the game's rules nor mathematization in its systems".<ref name="Games and Culture (2025)" />

===Awards=== * In 1994, ''Mage: The Ascension'' was nominated for the ''Casus Belli'' Award the best role-playing game of 1993, finishing in fifth place.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=April–May 1994 |title=Trophées Casus Belli 1993 du jeu de rôle |language=fr |magazine=Casus Belli |issue=80 |pages=16–17 |publisher=Excelsior Publications}}</ref> * ''Mage: The Ascension'', 2nd Edition won the Origins Award for ''Best Role-playing Rules'' in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.originsgamefair.com/awards/1995|title=1995 list of winners|publisher=Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design|access-date=2014-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504094257/http://www.originsgamefair.com/awards/1995|archive-date=2009-05-04}}</ref>

== See also == * List of Mage: The Ascension books * [https://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=812282 Sphere Sigils from Mage: The Ascension]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://theonyxpath.com/category/worlds/classicworldofdarkness/magetheascension/ Onyx's Path's Mage Page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080212012215/http://www.white-wolf.com/Games/Pages/MageHome.html Wayback Machine archive of White Wolf's Official Mage page] * [http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/MageTheAscension/ GURPS edition] cancelled

Category:Mage: The Ascension Category:Origins Award winners Category:Role-playing games introduced in 1993 Category:World of Darkness Category:White Wolf Publishing games Category:White Wolf Publishing