First Impressions:
The book is a hardback with the solid feel familiar to White Wolf fans. The 290 pages are densely packed with material, text and art. Each page is decorated with an intricate border and inlaid areas are shaded in a pattern reminiscent of parchment. The art runs the normal gamut of styles and subjects common to the White Wolf line giving everyone something to love and hate. The full-color 16-page intro story was vibrantly done and did a wonderful job of giving
M:SC a feel all of its own.
Content:
Mage: The Sorceror's Crusade is the
Mage installment of White Wolf's historical games. It spans the last century of the Dark Ages leading up to the Renaissance (1431-1550 A.D.) and stretches from England to China. The
M:SC developers seemed to have learned from past mistakes, devoting long sections of the book to describe not only the politics and economics of the regions, but the all-encompassing barriers between the classes.
Fans of previous Mage games will note some serious changes. While based on the rules from second editionM:tA, there are some drastic changes to bring it inline with the world-view of the 15th century. The basics of still there, but it's no surprise that four centuries will have a dramatic impact on the mystic paradigm.
Unlike the 20th Century Tradition mages, each midieval tradition is quite sure that their particular style is the "One True Way." This binds each mage to his or her particular foci and tools much more than their modern equivalents, rendering them powerless without them. It does, however, allow them to focus their power in ways that no modern mage can match. While less flexible, they retain all of the wonder and most of the power players have come to expect along with a healthy dash of unique style that was lacking in previous supplements.
There is also one more era-specific rule that adds immense flavor: the Fortune Dice. These dice are the mechanics means of expressing the result of multiple paradigms clashing. Every time a mystic uses magick there is a chance that whatever Sourge (Paradox) a mage has acquire will be expended. However these are strange and unusual times and the masses are reconsidering their opinions of the world. Scourge may not result in the Baneful backlash of modern times but instead may give the caster a Boon, such as additional Willpower, increased health, automatic successes, or even wealth. These Boons and Banes do not necessarily take effect immediately but at the Storytellers discrection.
Aside from the new rules on magick, M:SC has incorporated an extensive set of additional rules on combat. General purpose brawling maneuvers, fencing, Do, and the tricks of those new-fangled firearms have all been included. There are enough different features to give GM's a framework to start with and yet not so many as to hem them in. The special moves and new tricks all have a realistic feel that adds to the overall validity of the system.
Evaluation:
The new magick rules are what most people are going to focus on, but I really think they play second fiddle to the world of
M:SC. White Wolf has acquired a loyal following due to the intricate worlds they fabricate, but their modern games needed only to flavor the common world we all know. Historical games require the developers to provide the fundamentals of daily life in a way that not only makes sense to their readers but also manages to capture that alien feeling that comes from all societies that are significantly different from our own.
After slogging through the midieval games of the 70's and 80's,
M:SC is a welcome change. It manages to be more than "life as usual but with more trees" without overloading the players with tons of useless details.
Even though I feel the setting is the most important part of this game, rules can make or break an RPG.
M:SC still suffers from the flaws inherent to the World of Darkness systems, but the significant thought that went into updating the magic rules and melee combat so that they avoided directly conflicting with the rest of the World of Darkness compensates for much of that. Now the long-standing rules problems remain little more than annoyances compared to the richnes of the overall game system.
Conclusion:
The rules for
M:SC are are distinctive and have their own feel, vital to a stand-alone game, without diverging from the core concepts. I found none of the internal inconsistencies that plagued so many previous White Wolf supplements. The index needs more work, and it would have been nice to have emphasized the Fortune Dice more than they did. The game is sufficiently organized that these flaws are fairly minor, but it is still enough to prevent an Excellent rating.
This game is perfect not only for those looking for midieval Mage games, but for individuals looking for ways to bring Mages into their other WoD games. The rules on foci put sufficient limitations on the mage while actually enhancing their power that they can be played without worrying about the mages upstaging the "stars" of the game.
Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
