The Inside Scoop on Gaming

A friend of mine bought Masters of the Art and I flipped through his copy, taking special note at the Arch-Spheres, expecting something nice and well-done (after all, Dierd're Brooks was one of the authors) but instead I found some of the worst Mage: the Ascension material I have ever read. Unfortunately for me, my friend ended up buying me a copy the next day, so I was stuck with it. On the recommendation of some of my friends who had read the rest of the book, I decided to read all the way through it and give it a fair shake before I decided what to do with it. The rest of the book has a consistent pattern of "good idea, bad rules" but none of it is really good enough to counterbalance the horror that is the Arch-Spheres.

Prelude: A Narrow World

This is the high point of the book, this is where I actually had a glimmer of hope for it. The story is nicely done and manages to evoke that sense of mystery and power in an archmagus that I require them to have. It's a shame that it's downhill from there.

Introduction

The Introduction sets up the premise for the book, it's a volume written by an archmage in the hopes that it will help other archmagi-to-be from repeating the mistakes of their predecessors and ending up trapped in some paradox realm, an interesting idea with lots of possibility. Unfortunately it is not carried through , falling short. Most of the book is written in a tone that seems completely unfitting for someone who must be at least a hundred or more years old, and there are only a handful of "editorial comments." Too few to carry the feel to and too many to ignore. They just get in the way of the flow of the book.

Chapter One: Retrospect

This chapter has three parts. In the first, Seekings and Avatars get a closer look, and the real nature of the beast is revealed. Avatars are actually just non-sentient chunks of Prime connected to a soul. Whatever personality they seem to have is just a reflection of both the mage and their previous incarnations. This is surprisingly in line with my own theories on it, so I'm glad to see it in print, but I also understand why many people are displeased with this revelation. It removes a great deal of mystery and could be interpreted in a way that completely destroys the idea of Avatar "reincarnation."

Secondly, there is a brief mention of how members of various Traditions and Conventions (and some Crafts) become archmages and what they do then. Short, simple, and not really note worthy.

The last section seems out of place, it would have been more fitting in chapter three, being a short mention of why it is important for archmages to at least try to retain some degree of mundane reality in their lives.

Chapter Two: Threshold

This short chapter (nearly all of the chapters in the book are short) is all about how one becomes an archmagus, from the traits required to how to get them to how to gain the recognition of being such a being. The mention of why or why not some mages become archmagi was nice and useful, but not really anything that wouldn't arise from a few minutes of thought about the subject, there is really nothing ground-shaking there.

Chapter Three: Archmastery

This is all about interactions, both with other archmages and "lesser" beings. There is a section on mortal ties (and how to resolve them and why to preserve them) as well as supernatural beings. I was glad to see that not all "splats" were covered (there is even a sidebar about that) and that unwarranted prejudice did not cloud everything. While archmages don't know everything about everyone, they do know enough to not always fireball on sight.

The rest of the chapter focuses on how archmages get stuff done, and how they deal with each other, from associations to conflicts. Like the previous chapter, there is useful and helpful information, but nothing that wouldn't have "fallen out" or a few minutes of thought. There are a few neat little bits, however, like using a Spirit effect to perform a series of "little Gilguls" to carve away permanent Paradox at the price of the Avatar background.

The chapter finishes out with some special mention of places that archmagi find themseles congregating around. The idea of the Steading (basically a Realm-within-a-Realm) is neat, as is the theory that there is only one giant Paradox Realm, not lots of little ones, but the section also has some gigantic flaws, like the Avatar Winds. For some reason, the incidents of Ends of Empire have shredded a whole bunch of Avatars (no mention of where they came from) and sent them screaming through the Gauntlet to sandblast anyone who tries to cross it (damage, incidentally, it based on your Paradox + your Arete, so masters are advised to steer clear). Beyond that, there is also the possibility that a mage's Avatar background will be reduced to 0, effectively emulating Gilgul. This is the first concrete indication that a mage absolutely needs the Avatar background, something that has never been directly addressed before. Aside from negating many of the powers of the Spirit Sphere, all this serves to do it effectively decapitate the Traditions, trapping their heads in the Umbra and leaving their underlings on Earth. I find the Avatar Winds to be nothing other than a major nuisance that is promptly ignored.

Chapter Four: Ascension

Prefaced with another great little piece of fiction, this is where the book turns to methods of Immortality, Godhood and Ascension.

The only methods of Immortality mentioned are vampirism, mummy magic and Lichdom (an interesting idea with no rules, sadly) for some reason. The only two rotes in the book (both for "immortality" are given later in the book and there is no discussion of how to use different Spheres to extend your life.

Exemplars are also introduced into the game. They are archmagi who have become living embodiments of a Sphere by undergoing a special seeking in one Shard Realm or another. Aside from the fact that they have to be guided by a greater spirit, I really like the Exemplars. They gain great control over their Sphere at the cost of freezing their Arete and other Spheres and almost completely losing their humanity. I think that they are one of the best new additions in the book, definitely worth using every now and then. They are followed by a brief mention of Gods, but without much concrete information.

Then there is the section on Oracles, revealing the truth about them. They remind me strongly of Ferrymen, denying themselves Ascension so that they may guide others along the road. I wish that they had had more information, but what there was good.

The bit on how each faction in Mage: the Ascension wants Ascension to turn out is rather uninformative and bland. Aside from the Euthanatos and Verbena entries, there is really nothing noteworthy, interesting or new. I was rather disappointed.

Appendix: The Keys to the Universe

This is where the Arch-Spheres show up and where I decided that I'm selling this book. This chapter contains the worst Mage: the Ascension material to ever see print. This is beyond Chaos Factor or the other infamous Mage: the Ascension supplements. I would rather read Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand again than this, at least that book had more useful ideas. Almost universally, all of the Arch-Spheres are both unoriginal and poorly executed mechanically.

There are frequent examples of high level Spheres doing the exact same thing as lower level Spheres, sometimes with a change in scale (Entropy 6; Life 7; Matter 6, 7 and 8) or no apparent change (Correspondence 6; Force 6; Life 6; Spirit 6). Almost all of the powers are terribly limited in scope, seemingly more like really lame and poorly written rotes than Sphere levels. Instead of the flexible Spheres that distinguish Mage: the Ascension from other magic systems, the high level Spheres read like poorly thought out high level Disciplines. Things like Entropy 7 (Evolution of the Species) should require some knowledge of Life. Forces 7 (Plate Tectonics) is just dumb. Forces 8 (Toss Around the Realms) makes no sense, since such powers are the purview of Spirit. Correspondence 8 is completely useless without Spirit 3 or greater. I could go on and on, mentioning how each Sphere level is inherently flawed and really shittily done.

The only exception, oddly enough, is Time, but it still suffers from some poor writing (in Time 9) and a separation of powers, drawing what should be one dot out across 4. I'm firmly of the opinion that you don't need any Sphere levels beyond 6. 5 is near absolute control, why should the rate of progression get so much slower after that hump?

The idea of Cascading Spheres was nice though, even if I don't agree with all of the links. The idea is that since many of the Sphere are so similar, when you reach Archmastery in one, you can use the others at reduced skill, even if you have no rating in them. That means if you have Forces 8, then your understanding of Patterns is so advanced that you can simulate anything up to Matter 3 or Life 3 (your Arch-Sphere's rating -5), but difficulties are determined as if you were using your Forces Sphere (which basically means +5 to the difficulty.). The groupings are Dynamic - Correspondence, Mind, Time, Pattern - Forces, Life, Matter, and Primordial - Entropy, Prime, Spirit. I would have switched Mind and Entropy myself, making the groupings Spatial or Relationship, Patter, and Abstract.

There are also new rules for Quiet, breaking it into three categories, Clarity, Jhor and Madness. Clarity is getting too far into a paradigm, Jhor is the death-taint and Madness is the standard fare for Marauders. While this is an interesting idea, I'm not sure if I like it at all, I don't like associating Jhor with Quiet, I think it works better on its own. On top of that, the rules are not given enough room to be explained properly.

The chapter ends with a discussion of familiars, spirit mentors, and some new traits for archmages, including merits and flaws and a new background, Spirit Mentor (which I found to be underpowered). Character creation rules for new archmagi are also given, and they work well enough, except that I think they should have been a bit more general (as in removing the requirement of having one Sphere at 6). The side-effect of Arch-Spheres affecting attributes was neat, as well. Each Sphere has an associated attribute and Arch-Spheres allow an archmage to raise their attribute beyond 5. The merits and flaws are okay, nothing really great, but nothing terrible either.

The templates were all rather boring, except for the Exemplar-in-Training, but I never really expect anything from templates anymore anyway.

So I've decided…

That I don't think Masters of the Art is worth buying for anything more than $5. It has a few tiny interesting ideas, but none of them are executed properly and there is such a weight of really bad ideas that the entire book is weighed down, falling from an average and forgettable Mage: the Ascension supplement to easily one of the worst that has been printed yet.

This makes me worry about Mage: the Ascension Revised.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)

Masters of the Art
Author: Dierd're Brooks and Adam McCandliss Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Mage: the Ascension Cost: $13.95 Page count: 88 ISBN: 1-56504-427-4 SKU: WW4017 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 11/15/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day	A friend of mine bought Masters of the Art and I flipped through his copy, taking special note at the Arch-Spheres, expecting something nice and well-done (after all, Dierd're Brooks was one of the authors) but instead I found some of the worst Mage: the Ascension material I have ever read. Unfortunately for me, my friend ended up buying me a copy the next day, so I was stuck with it. On the recommendation of some of my friends who had read the rest of the book, I decided to read all the way through it and give it a fair shake before I decided what to do with it. The rest of the book has a consistent pattern of "good idea, bad rules" but none of it is really good enough to counterbalance the horror that is the Arch-Spheres. Prelude: A Narrow World This is the high point of the book, this is where I actually had a glimmer of hope for it. The story is nicely done and manages to evoke that sense of mystery and power in an archmagus that I require them to have. It's a shame that it's downhill from there. Introduction The Introduction sets up the premise for the book, it's a volume written by an archmage in the hopes that it will help other archmagi-to-be from repeating the mistakes of their predecessors and ending up trapped in some paradox realm, an interesting idea with lots of possibility. Unfortunately it is not carried through , falling short. Most of the book is written in a tone that seems completely unfitting for someone who must be at least a hundred or more years old, and there are only a handful of "editorial comments." Too few to carry the feel to and too many to ignore. They just get in the way of the flow of the book. Chapter One: Retrospect This chapter has three parts. In the first, Seekings and Avatars get a closer look, and the real nature of the beast is revealed. Avatars are actually just non-sentient chunks of Prime connected to a soul. Whatever personality they seem to have is just a reflection of both the mage and their previous incarnations. This is surprisingly in line with my own theories on it, so I'm glad to see it in print, but I also understand why many people are displeased with this revelation. It removes a great deal of mystery and could be interpreted in a way that completely destroys the idea of Avatar "reincarnation." Secondly, there is a brief mention of how members of various Traditions and Conventions (and some Crafts) become archmages and what they do then. Short, simple, and not really note worthy. The last section seems out of place, it would have been more fitting in chapter three, being a short mention of why it is important for archmages to at least try to retain some degree of mundane reality in their lives. Chapter Two: Threshold This short chapter (nearly all of the chapters in the book are short) is all about how one becomes an archmagus, from the traits required to how to get them to how to gain the recognition of being such a being. The mention of why or why not some mages become archmagi was nice and useful, but not really anything that wouldn't arise from a few minutes of thought about the subject, there is really nothing ground-shaking there. Chapter Three: Archmastery This is all about interactions, both with other archmages and "lesser" beings. There is a section on mortal ties (and how to resolve them and why to preserve them) as well as supernatural beings. I was glad to see that not all "splats" were covered (there is even a sidebar about that) and that unwarranted prejudice did not cloud everything. While archmages don't know everything about everyone, they do know enough to not always fireball on sight. The rest of the chapter focuses on how archmages get stuff done, and how they deal with each other, from associations to conflicts. Like the previous chapter, there is useful and helpful information, but nothing that wouldn't have "fallen out" or a few minutes of thought. There are a few neat little bits, however, like using a Spirit effect to perform a series of "little Gilguls" to carve away permanent Paradox at the price of the Avatar background. The chapter finishes out with some special mention of places that archmagi find themseles congregating around. The idea of the Steading (basically a Realm-within-a-Realm) is neat, as is the theory that there is only one giant Paradox Realm, not lots of little ones, but the section also has some gigantic flaws, like the Avatar Winds. For some reason, the incidents of Ends of Empire have shredded a whole bunch of Avatars (no mention of where they came from) and sent them screaming through the Gauntlet to sandblast anyone who tries to cross it (damage, incidentally, it based on your Paradox + your Arete, so masters are advised to steer clear). Beyond that, there is also the possibility that a mage's Avatar background will be reduced to 0, effectively emulating Gilgul. This is the first concrete indication that a mage absolutely needs the Avatar background, something that has never been directly addressed before. Aside from negating many of the powers of the Spirit Sphere, all this serves to do it effectively decapitate the Traditions, trapping their heads in the Umbra and leaving their underlings on Earth. I find the Avatar Winds to be nothing other than a major nuisance that is promptly ignored. Chapter Four: Ascension Prefaced with another great little piece of fiction, this is where the book turns to methods of Immortality, Godhood and Ascension. The only methods of Immortality mentioned are vampirism, mummy magic and Lichdom (an interesting idea with no rules, sadly) for some reason. The only two rotes in the book (both for "immortality" are given later in the book and there is no discussion of how to use different Spheres to extend your life. Exemplars are also introduced into the game. They are archmagi who have become living embodiments of a Sphere by undergoing a special seeking in one Shard Realm or another. Aside from the fact that they have to be guided by a greater spirit, I really like the Exemplars. They gain great control over their Sphere at the cost of freezing their Arete and other Spheres and almost completely losing their humanity. I think that they are one of the best new additions in the book, definitely worth using every now and then. They are followed by a brief mention of Gods, but without much concrete information. Then there is the section on Oracles, revealing the truth about them. They remind me strongly of Ferrymen, denying themselves Ascension so that they may guide others along the road. I wish that they had had more information, but what there was good. The bit on how each faction in Mage: the Ascension wants Ascension to turn out is rather uninformative and bland. Aside from the Euthanatos and Verbena entries, there is really nothing noteworthy, interesting or new. I was rather disappointed. Appendix: The Keys to the Universe This is where the Arch-Spheres show up and where I decided that I'm selling this book. This chapter contains the worst Mage: the Ascension material to ever see print. This is beyond Chaos Factor or the other infamous Mage: the Ascension supplements. I would rather read Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand again than this, at least that book had more useful ideas. Almost universally, all of the Arch-Spheres are both unoriginal and poorly executed mechanically. There are frequent examples of high level Spheres doing the exact same thing as lower level Spheres, sometimes with a change in scale (Entropy 6; Life 7; Matter 6, 7 and 8) or no apparent change (Correspondence 6; Force 6; Life 6; Spirit 6). Almost all of the powers are terribly limited in scope, seemingly more like really lame and poorly written rotes than Sphere levels. Instead of the flexible Spheres that distinguish Mage: the Ascension from other magic systems, the high level Spheres read like poorly thought out high level Disciplines. Things like Entropy 7 (Evolution of the Species) should require some knowledge of Life. Forces 7 (Plate Tectonics) is just dumb. Forces 8 (Toss Around the Realms) makes no sense, since such powers are the purview of Spirit. Correspondence 8 is completely useless without Spirit 3 or greater. I could go on and on, mentioning how each Sphere level is inherently flawed and really shittily done. The only exception, oddly enough, is Time, but it still suffers from some poor writing (in Time 9) and a separation of powers, drawing what should be one dot out across 4. I'm firmly of the opinion that you don't need any Sphere levels beyond 6. 5 is near absolute control, why should the rate of progression get so much slower after that hump? The idea of Cascading Spheres was nice though, even if I don't agree with all of the links. The idea is that since many of the Sphere are so similar, when you reach Archmastery in one, you can use the others at reduced skill, even if you have no rating in them. That means if you have Forces 8, then your understanding of Patterns is so advanced that you can simulate anything up to Matter 3 or Life 3 (your Arch-Sphere's rating -5), but difficulties are determined as if you were using your Forces Sphere (which basically means +5 to the difficulty.). The groupings are Dynamic - Correspondence, Mind, Time, Pattern - Forces, Life, Matter, and Primordial - Entropy, Prime, Spirit. I would have switched Mind and Entropy myself, making the groupings Spatial or Relationship, Patter, and Abstract. There are also new rules for Quiet, breaking it into three categories, Clarity, Jhor and Madness. Clarity is getting too far into a paradigm, Jhor is the death-taint and Madness is the standard fare for Marauders. While this is an interesting idea, I'm not sure if I like it at all, I don't like associating Jhor with Quiet, I think it works better on its own. On top of that, the rules are not given enough room to be explained properly. The chapter ends with a discussion of familiars, spirit mentors, and some new traits for archmages, including merits and flaws and a new background, Spirit Mentor (which I found to be underpowered). Character creation rules for new archmagi are also given, and they work well enough, except that I think they should have been a bit more general (as in removing the requirement of having one Sphere at 6). The side-effect of Arch-Spheres affecting attributes was neat, as well. Each Sphere has an associated attribute and Arch-Spheres allow an archmage to raise their attribute beyond 5. The merits and flaws are okay, nothing really great, but nothing terrible either. The templates were all rather boring, except for the Exemplar-in-Training, but I never really expect anything from templates anymore anyway. So I've decided… That I don't think Masters of the Art is worth buying for anything more than $5. It has a few tiny interesting ideas, but none of them are executed properly and there is such a weight of really bad ideas that the entire book is weighed down, falling from an average and forgettable Mage: the Ascension supplement to easily one of the worst that has been printed yet. This makes me worry about Mage: the Ascension Revised. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)