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A Review by Sherm Sheftall
First, yes this is my first review for RPG.net. Second, both reading and playtesting the new Mage: The Awakening has formed my opinion of the game. With that said, here's my review of the new World of Darkness (WOD) game of high magick (oops..) - Mage: The Awakening.
Production:
Mage: The Awakening is the fifth iteration of the game (Mage: The Ascension 1, 2 and Revised, Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade and Dark Ages: Mage) originally created by Stewart Wieck and White Wolf Game Studio(WW). In general Mage is a pleasant looking product. A 400 page hardcover book with a full color cover, gold metallic ink type and a nice coated varnish presentation of the Path Pentacle.
The interior is two-color, black and gold metallic inks. The pages are solidly stitch square bound and I have not experienced any problem with loose pages or the books spine breaking. I do have two issues with the interior production of the book though. One, that the black ink smeared at the touch in my book when I first purchased it. Two, that the gold ink makes reading sometimes difficult depending on the light. But even with these
problems, the new World of Darkness Books are far better in appearance and production value than most of their predecessors.
Art & Design:
The interior art is hit and miss. Michael W. Kaluta produced all of the illustrations in the book. There has been much debate as to whether having one person do all the art was a wise decision. Let me simply state that I like Kaluta and always have. But I think the game, in terms of aesthetic appeal and also presentation of the setting, would have been stronger with a mix of artists. Mr. Kaluta is superb in creating the runes of the Arcana and I personally loved his illustrations of the Watchtowers and Path Pentacle but he sometimes falls short in his illustration of characters.
The book is designed to look like a sorcerer's diary complete with handwritten pieces and a stitched spine look. Sections of the book look rushed and the typography can make some parts difficult to read. As an example - the idea of making the Rote section three column - like a certain game publishers Player's Handbook - is cute, but it makes the text hard to follow when combined with art and the large script used in the spell titles. Many times it just plain looks bad. Overall it's a nice piece, though I think it falls short of the Vampire and Werewolf core books in terms of visual vitality.
Content:
The book is divided as so: A prologue of setting fiction. An introductory chapter. Four chapters detailing the game. Two appendixes. An epilogue of setting fiction. An index, and finally a character sheet at the end.
Prologue: Mage: The Awakening opens with eight pages of introductory fiction. The story, written as a journal by a new mage, frankly left me cold. It was solidly written and helped to introduce the settings take on mages and mage society but it just didn't have the imaginative "spark" and tone that I've come to expect from White Wolf introductory fiction (see more about this at the end).
Introduction: This truly begins the book. A single page of "flavor" story text (a format which is used throughout) is followed by an introduction to the basic concepts and themes of the setting. It also includes the ubiquitous World of Darkness Lexicon.
I've always found it interesting that White Wolf chooses to put the Lexicon in the front. I usually don't read it till I've read through much of the book. Back of the book might be a better place perhaps?
Chapters 1-4: This forms the bulk of the book and includes:
Chapter 1: The Secret World The background setting, which includes a link to a sunken island called Atlantis, has caused some controversy amongst Mage enthusiast. Personally it is as interesting as any other legend or myth that's been used in the WOD core books. My only problem with this section is that, like all the other flavor text, it is flat and not terribly fun to read.
Chapter 2: Character This section details character generation and does a servicable job of it. On the surface the number of options presented to a Mage player are staggering but this section does a good job of trying to help the player focus all the detail down into a playable character. Like all WOD books it is probably best to go in with a solid idea of what you'd like to play and then find a way to use the mechanics to get there.
Chapter 3: Magic Mage has always been known as having one of the most inventive magic systems in RPG's and that is still true with this new variation.
It is obvious that the game designers really wanted to make the magic system more accessible to newcomers,thus the game relies much more heavily on Rotes, written spells similar to most other RPG magic systems, as a means for begining sorcerers to cast spells. 134 pages are used to detail magical Rotes from the various Arcanua and I've found in play that this has helped a great deal to get the players "into" the magic system. It is easy to say, "You can do anything." It is much harder to figure out exactly what you WANT to do. Rotes are quick and easy for players to get a feel for what each Arcanum does and what they (the player character) can and cannot do with their given magical skills.
But Mage does not end with a simple list of spells. It is the Creative Thaumaturgy section of the rules, the ability of a Magi to cast any spell (if they have the appropriate knowledge) on the fly, that makes Mage - MAGE. The basics are - Arcanum level dictates what a Mage can and cannot attempt in spellcasting. Arcana can be used together to create greater effects. But what has been added is a workable system for increasing a spells potency, range and/or duration. Each of these factors can be modified by taking a penalty to the characters dice pool. As a liberal example, taking -2 to your dice pool could allow you to increase your spells Potency, the power of its effect, by 1. Let's say it was a spell that did bodily damage - it would now do 2 dice of damage instead of 1.
I will not try to fool you. There will always be debates when playing a Mage game about what is and is not possible - or what fits under what use of an Arcanum. But, Mage: The Awakening, takes a solid stab at giving the answer to those questions. But, asking those questions is part of the fun of playing Mage, right?
Chapter 4: Storytelling and Antagonists Includes the usual notes to gamemasters on how to run the game and a selection of Antagonists. This section, particularly the write up of the Seers of the Throne - the major antagonists of the setting, could have been longer. More antagonists that were not spirits or magical at all - like cults - would have been great.
Appendix 1: Legacies Here are presented Legacies. A nice way to bring back some of the setting elements from the prior Mage game(s) and the World of Darkness. Legacies are a type of sub-order that characters can join. Following a Legacy narrows a characters focus, but provides inherent, paranormal abilities. Bypassing Paradox. I really enjoyed this section and wished that it was longer with more Legacies.
Appendix 2: Boston Ok. I know that it helps some to have a detailed piece of the setting like a location, in this case Boston, or an adventure in the core book. I'm not one of them. I usually regard this as a waste of space and something that should be left as a stand alone products like the forthcoming Boston Unveiled. I wish that was where all the information in this section had been left. It would have been more helpful if the authors had used this section to provide more information on antagonists, legacies, how mages operate day to day, etc. What we get is a quick overview of Boston and some of its magical inhabitants and institutions - which reads like it was chopped directly out of the Boston Unveiled book and is thus incomplete.
The Book Ends The book ends with a comprehensive index and a 2 page, 2 color character sheet in black and gold ink. I would think the gold would be hard to photocopy, plus bending the book to copy the sheet might damage it. You can just download the character sheet from WW's site or pick-up a character sheet pad at your local FLGS.
Summary:
No, this isn't Mage: The Ascension. It's Mage: The Awakening - a game all its own. Some of it flawed - It is in no way as evocative in the writing as its predecessors. Some of it excellent - The game mechanics are, for the most part, well written and I've found it much easier to get new players into playing Mage. My recommendation? Give it a try!
Style: 4 (Classy and Well Done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
-Sherm Sheftall
Somewhere in Sin
November 2005
P.S. In the prior versions of the game there was some excellent material provided by female writers. I particularly loved Kathleen Ryan's flavor material - the opening story in Mage: The Ascension 2nd Edition - being one of my favorittes. There seems to be a dearth of female writers at WW these days...or is it my imagination?
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