Mage: The Ascension is the mystical component of the recent World of Darkness revision, in which all the games were reworked, modernized, and smoothed out into good, polished game. White Wolf certainly delivered.
This edition of Mage set out to do what the other Mage books had not. This particular line has always been about the "Big Picture" in the World of Darkness, about the cosmos, metaphysics, and philosophy. However, many players of previous editions felt that the scope of the game was so big that it was unplayable: more a field for Gods than for player characters. Concepts like the Horizon, paradigm, the Ascension war and the idea behind True Magic often left players of the concise and dramatic "Vampire the Masquerade" shaking thier heads, and the primal and heroic "Werewolf" players complained of headaches when they attempted to read through mage.
This edition has managed to eliminate that confusion and the disorienting sense of scale from the game, bringin it "down to earth", while simultaneously keeping it's core elements. All the old, great and powerful mages, and the old politics and huge, incomprehensible struggles that they carried with them, are essentially gone. The game developers took a good step with making magic more risky, and making the Umbra and the other worlds dangerous, mysterious places again. More importantly, though, the game focuses on the struggle that the Mages have as Human beings. Mage is unique in that aspect, in that the player characters are not monsters, not undead, not ancient mystical beings. They are simply human beings who have discovered the metaphysical truths about life in a way that most people never realize. They are as vulnerable, as frail, and often as confused as normal people, yet they possess both a greater understanding of life and a burden. This theme, probably the most important in Mage, was done a great service with the end of the "Ascension War" plot, which honestly I thought was always sort of a big cop-out, presenting an evil-faceless empire that wanted to "enlighten" mankind by brainwashing them.
With the shift away from the theme of fighting the Technocracy (note that there is no description for Technocrats in the antogonists section) the players of the game are free to explore all the different demanding themes of the game. The removal of the masters from earth is a particularly nice touch, both for the Technocracy and the Traditions, because now it brings the importance of individual young mages (IE: Player characters) to the forefront. Suddenly, instead of the fate of the world being in the hands of Masters who've reincarnated for thousands of years or who were Awakened in the womb or who have lived in a Horizon realm for centuries... the fate of the world rides on the shoulders of rookie martial-artists who barely know what's going on, and wizard's apprentices who find that they have to start making up thier own signs, sigils, and rituals, now that their mentors have gone. It gives the game a sense of adventure.
The only thing that I really didn't like was the emphasis on factions. Yes, Mages, being human, will naturally coalesce into cliques, but the importance of personal widsom and struggle is a theme too important in the game to be overshadowed by such groups, and I felt that the attention given them in the descriptions of the Traditions was a bit much. More attention should have been devoted to what each Tradition is like in the real world, and what each one's attitudes and vision of Ascension is. The Stereotypes of the other traditions could have used a little more variety, give us two voices about each of the others, for example, instead of just one.
The Art and layout of the book was very good, but fell just short of being great. I like the fact that they have chosen to use all new, completely original art, and the new them of including a picture of each Tradition in each part of the book is a nice touch. However, I am not that fond of the Edited Photograph thing, some of them are nice, some of them are simply aweful, or jumbled and confusing. Most of the characters in the Edited Photos are wearing bizarre, almost Dune-looking costumes. They're nice, but they aren't Mage. I would have like to have seen pictures that demonstrated the flavor and character of each traidition. Most of them, instead, are simply characters posing with blank expressions on thier faces and no feeling of movement or dynamism in the image. Still, the rest of the art in the book more than made up for it. Laubenstien, as always, is enjoyable, and whoever "RGM" is had be completely captivated, especially by the image on P. 118, the picture later in the "Prime" section, and the image in the back of the Nephandi. Excellent.
Mechanics wise, I found it very nice. There is an entire section devoted to the various tasks that a mage might do, and they're covered in extensive detail. In particular, the long, attentive coverage of Computer Hacking and Umbral navigation was helpful, being something that got a little shorted in the last edition. I had mixed feelings about the dramatic increase in Paradox. It seemed at first like the developers wanted doing magic on earth to be so dangerous that Mages couldn't stand a chance against anything. But, I looked at it again, and realized that most of the massive amounts are listed for Botching, which makes sense. And the definition of what's "Coincidental" and what isn't is up to each Storyteller, so it isn't a big concern. There is freedom to experiment, and you want to run a more adventurous and fantastic game, you can always come up with your own rules. This is one of the beauties of the Storyteller games, that breaking or making up your own rules is encouraged. Nothing is more important than having a good time, after all.
Overall, despite a few flaws, like any game has, this is an excellent read, game, and buy. It's well worth the money paid, and will deliver lasting enjoyment.
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