Action Movie World vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare Action Movie World and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Action Movie World | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Modern | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Playbook-Driven, Cinematic, Fiction-First, Short Sessions, Comedy, Martial Arts, Player-Only Rolls, Pulp Action | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat. On a 10+ the move succeeds completely, on 7–9 it succeeds with a catch, on 6 or less it fails and the Director makes a move. Players choose an Actor Playbook (their star persona across all films) and a temporary Script Playbook (the genre of the current movie), gaining moves from both. Only players roll dice: the Director never rolls. | Build a d10 pool from an Attribute plus an Ability and count each die that meets or exceeds the difficulty, usually 6. Each rolled 1 cancels a success, and a roll with no successes and at least one 1 botches. Magick uses Arete instead: the highest Sphere plus coincidence or vulgarity and witnesses establishes the base difficulty, with situational modifiers applied afterward. Successes determine the Effect, and vulgar casting risks Paradox. |
| Dice | 2d6 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | Powered by the Apocalypse | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Flatland Games | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2015 | 2015 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want short, high-energy sessions that celebrate the cheesy action movies of the 1970s through 1990s, playing actors whose careers span multiple genres of film. | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. |
| Highlights | Dual-layer playbook system: Actor Playbooks define a star's brand while Script Playbooks define the genre of each movie, so campaigns shift between kung fu, cop, barbarian, and other action subgenres. Lead actor mechanic grants one character plot immunity per movie, mirroring action film conventions. Star Power and experience track an actor's career across multiple films. Movies run in 2–4 sessions, making each one a self-contained arc within a longer campaign. | Nine Spheres combine to build open-ended Effects, allowing the same capability to emerge through different paradigms, practices, and instruments. Coincidental and vulgar classifications make subtlety a tactical choice because conspicuous magick raises difficulty and accumulates Paradox. Focus ties belief to procedure, so a mage's worldview determines the tools and rituals used to alter reality. |
| Considerations | Meta-narrative framing (playing actors playing characters) requires buy-in and may confuse groups expecting straightforward genre play. No free rules or quickstart available. Script Playbooks in the core book cover six subgenres: groups wanting genres outside those six must create custom scripts. | Improvised Effects place frequent adjudication on the Storyteller, who must apply Sphere permissions, focus, required successes, and consequences consistently. Vulgar magick generates Paradox even on success, so overt power can punish a mage through injury or metaphysical breakdown. Faction choices can make a cabal internally hostile, so character concepts need shared motives before play. |