Age of Adventure RPG vs Mage: The Ascension

Compare Age of Adventure RPG and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Age of Adventure RPG	Mage: The Ascension
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy, Modern, Horror
Tags	Rules-Light, Classic Fantasy, Heroic, Player-Only Rolls, Roll to Cast, Low-Prep, Random Tables, CC-Licensed Rules	Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics
Core Mechanic	Each Hero picks a single Proficiency number from 2 to 5. MIGHT actions (physical, martial) count d6 results equal to or under that number as Successes; MIND actions (mental, complex) count results equal to or over it. Roll 1d6 by default and add bonus dice for being Skilled, Prepared, Helped, or carrying the right Item. Rolling the Proficiency number exactly on a successful check earns a Hero Point, spendable for extra dice, rerolls, +1 damage, or a true in-world answer from the GM. Only players ever roll: enemy attacks resolve as automatic player Reaction Checks against the same Proficiency, with Block (1 less damage) or Dodge (no damage) chosen by the defender.	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	d6 dice pool	d10 dice pool
Complexity	Low	Very High
Accessibility	High	High
Runnability	Medium	Very High
License	CC BY 4.0	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	Adrian Young Games	Onyx Path Publishing
Year	2025	2015
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish
Best For	Groups who want a complete heroic fantasy game they can start playing the same night: everything from character creation to campaign play fits in a twelve-page zine, with classic fantasy races and class archetypes already built in.	Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world.
Highlights	A single Proficiency number from 2 to 5 defines a character's physical-versus-mental lean in one decision, so building a Hero is a thirty-second commitment rather than a stat-by-stat exercise: high favors MIGHT (roll under), low favors MIND (roll over). Only players roll dice, even on defense: every enemy attack triggers an automatic Reaction Check from the targeted Hero, so the GM is free to narrate threats while every die at the table belongs to a player. Encounter Levels are calculated as Size × Actions × Challenge plus armor and shield bonuses, then summed across the party, giving the GM an at-a-glance balance number to scale opposition without writing statblocks.	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	Magic is limited to six Arcane and six Holy spells that Wizards and Clerics know in full from creation, with no spell progression, new spells, or list customization across a campaign. Damage caps at 2 points per hit and Stamina maxes at the Proficiency number plus armor, so combats resolve in a few rounds without granular HP attrition or extended tactical play. Character advancement between adventures is limited to gold rewards and a +1 starting Hero Points carryover: there are no levels, experience tracks, or stat increases that meaningfully change a Hero over the course of a campaign.	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.