The Inside Scoop on Gaming

As cometh Mage Revised, so cometh the overflow book.

For fifteen bucks, you get an attractive, if flimsy, GM screen and a slim book of stuff that White Wolf thought not important enough to put in the main book. I doubt their wisdom on that count, but I'll get to that in a bit.

The screen has nice art on the front in a sort of "mystic cyberpunk" mode. The back has admirably little wasted space, being packed full of useful tables from the main rulebook. (Compare to the Mage 2nd screen, which wasn't laid out as nice, in my opinion.) The screen is good, but WILL need lamination if you expect to make heavy use of it.

The book itself is comprised of four main sections. The first two are nice but not essential, whereas the last two are useful indeed; I would have gladly swapped out the Merits and Flaws from the main book for either one of these sections. Still very little info on the Technocracy, however, for those of you holding your breath.

The first section is a timeline of events in the Mage version of the World of Darkness, and a "story until now" to bridge the gap between Mage 2nd and Revised. One finally learns what the Avatar Storm is, for example; the Technocracy happened to detonate a spirit nuke deep in the Umbra, the fallout from which shredded many magi's Avatars(the spirit-like thing that make a mage a mage, for those playing at home). The shards of the Avatars now comprise a big storm that makes crossing the Gauntlet(barrier between the material and spiritual worlds) difficult and dangerous. Werewolves and the like are presumbably protected from this storm thanks to being part-spirit creatures. In the end, this section is good if you wish to play in the Revised version of the World of Darkness, but less useful if you are sticking to the Mage 2nd version.

The second is a list of Crafts: magical organizations separate from the Council of Traditions and the Technocracy. In truth, some Crafts have joined up with the Traditions for the sake of survival, but they are clearly shown to have retained a degree of separation. There's still a bit of illogic present - the Wu Lung, a bunch of legalistic, ancestor-worshipping Chinese wizards join up with the Akashic Brotherhood, their ages-old enemy, because a divination told them so? THAT went down like a spoonful of peanut butter.

The third section is where things begin to get good. This section comprises rules and examples for spirits and bygones (creatures of myth). It is far better and more exhaustive than what has previously been presented in the Mage core books, although this section is marred by the non-mention of the more famous spirits, and NO stats, not even suggestions, for the bygones.

Finally, there is the section on Wonders, which it is. White Wolf finally got it together and published a sort of Unified Goodie Theory for Mage. Wonders comprise every magical item ever described previously in Mage, from the standbys of Talismans and Fetishes to Familiars. The exact interaction of Sleepers(normal folks) and Wonders is also explained; if a Sleeper believes in the paradigm of the mage who created the Wonder, and has a compatible resonance, then the Sleeper can use that item, even if he or she doesn't know what it is. Of course, they might still need to figure out which button fires the SuperDeathRay2000 or what ancient language the intelligent football trophy speaks, but they have a chance.

It is also explicitly mentioned that one may combine many backgrounds into one item; if you want a talismanic fetish sword that also happens to be your mentor, feel free. Just don't whine when you lose it (and thus, a significant bit of your power).

Finally, the actual layout and art of the book follows the high standard set by the main Mage Revised book. None of the text is made unreadable by an eye-candy background, there are remarkably few pieces of outright AWFUL art, and white-space is kept to a minimum. Even so, I did not personally like all the art, and one piece struck me as outright illogical - the Templars are mentioned as specifically not allowing female members. Guess what the representive picture for the Templars is? Yep, a female Templar. At least, a very androgynous Templar, so maybe the person IS male. Even so, confusion oughtn't be the goal.

If you bought Mage Revised, you might as well buy this book. If you didn't, but play Mage, it might be worth picking up just for the Crafts, spirits, and Wonders. If you don't play Mage at all, glancing through a friend's copy to look through the Crafts and rotes (spells) might be worthwhile, depending on your game. All in all, it's a good overflow book, but I'd be happier if White Wolf had packed some of this stuff into the MAIN book

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Mage Storyteller's Screen and Companion
Author: Jackie Cassada, Nicky Rea, Kevin Andrew Murphy Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Mage Cost: 14.95 Page count: 69 ISBN: 1-56504-406-1 SKU: WW4601 Capsule Review by Damien Wellman on 03/23/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Modern_day Conspiracy Gothic Asian/Far_East Superhero	As cometh Mage Revised, so cometh the overflow book. For fifteen bucks, you get an attractive, if flimsy, GM screen and a slim book of stuff that White Wolf thought not important enough to put in the main book. I doubt their wisdom on that count, but I'll get to that in a bit. The screen has nice art on the front in a sort of "mystic cyberpunk" mode. The back has admirably little wasted space, being packed full of useful tables from the main rulebook. (Compare to the Mage 2nd screen, which wasn't laid out as nice, in my opinion.) The screen is good, but WILL need lamination if you expect to make heavy use of it. The book itself is comprised of four main sections. The first two are nice but not essential, whereas the last two are useful indeed; I would have gladly swapped out the Merits and Flaws from the main book for either one of these sections. Still very little info on the Technocracy, however, for those of you holding your breath. The first section is a timeline of events in the Mage version of the World of Darkness, and a "story until now" to bridge the gap between Mage 2nd and Revised. One finally learns what the Avatar Storm is, for example; the Technocracy happened to detonate a spirit nuke deep in the Umbra, the fallout from which shredded many magi's Avatars(the spirit-like thing that make a mage a mage, for those playing at home). The shards of the Avatars now comprise a big storm that makes crossing the Gauntlet(barrier between the material and spiritual worlds) difficult and dangerous. Werewolves and the like are presumbably protected from this storm thanks to being part-spirit creatures. In the end, this section is good if you wish to play in the Revised version of the World of Darkness, but less useful if you are sticking to the Mage 2nd version. The second is a list of Crafts: magical organizations separate from the Council of Traditions and the Technocracy. In truth, some Crafts have joined up with the Traditions for the sake of survival, but they are clearly shown to have retained a degree of separation. There's still a bit of illogic present - the Wu Lung, a bunch of legalistic, ancestor-worshipping Chinese wizards join up with the Akashic Brotherhood, their ages-old enemy, because a divination told them so? THAT went down like a spoonful of peanut butter. The third section is where things begin to get good. This section comprises rules and examples for spirits and bygones (creatures of myth). It is far better and more exhaustive than what has previously been presented in the Mage core books, although this section is marred by the non-mention of the more famous spirits, and NO stats, not even suggestions, for the bygones. Finally, there is the section on Wonders, which it is. White Wolf finally got it together and published a sort of Unified Goodie Theory for Mage. Wonders comprise every magical item ever described previously in Mage, from the standbys of Talismans and Fetishes to Familiars. The exact interaction of Sleepers(normal folks) and Wonders is also explained; if a Sleeper believes in the paradigm of the mage who created the Wonder, and has a compatible resonance, then the Sleeper can use that item, even if he or she doesn't know what it is. Of course, they might still need to figure out which button fires the SuperDeathRay2000 or what ancient language the intelligent football trophy speaks, but they have a chance. It is also explicitly mentioned that one may combine many backgrounds into one item; if you want a talismanic fetish sword that also happens to be your mentor, feel free. Just don't whine when you lose it (and thus, a significant bit of your power). Finally, the actual layout and art of the book follows the high standard set by the main Mage Revised book. None of the text is made unreadable by an eye-candy background, there are remarkably few pieces of outright AWFUL art, and white-space is kept to a minimum. Even so, I did not personally like all the art, and one piece struck me as outright illogical - the Templars are mentioned as specifically not allowing female members. Guess what the representive picture for the Templars is? Yep, a female Templar. At least, a very androgynous Templar, so maybe the person IS male. Even so, confusion oughtn't be the goal. If you bought Mage Revised, you might as well buy this book. If you didn't, but play Mage, it might be worth picking up just for the Crafts, spirits, and Wonders. If you don't play Mage at all, glancing through a friend's copy to look through the Crafts and rotes (spells) might be worthwhile, depending on your game. All in all, it's a good overflow book, but I'd be happier if White Wolf had packed some of this stuff into the MAIN book Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Mage Storyteller's Screen and Companion