All Flesh Must Be Eaten vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare All Flesh Must Be Eaten and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| All Flesh Must Be Eaten | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Horror, Modern | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Simulation, Modular, Character Building, Roleplay-Heavy | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d10 + attribute + skill vs a target number (typically 9). Characters are built with three power tiers: Norms (ordinary survivors), Survivors (action heroes), and Inspired (supernatural powers). The Zombie Master uses a detailed zombie creation system to customize the undead threat for each Deadworld setting. | 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 | d10 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | Proprietary (Unisystem) | 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 | Eden Studios | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2004 | 2015 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want a zombie survival RPG with flexible character creation, customizable zombie types, and multiple campaign settings from Romero-style horror to wuxia undead. | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. |
| Highlights | Eleven distinct Deadworld settings in the core book, flexible Unisystem engine handles diverse genres, detailed zombie creation toolkit lets GMs craft unique threats, three character tiers support different play styles | 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 | Character creation is point-buy across Attributes, Qualities, Drawbacks, Skills, and Metaphysics, which front-loads a long series of choices before play begins. Combat applies damage multipliers after the hit roll and then subtracts armor, so a single exchange runs through several steps. The book supplies eleven Deadworld settings as construction kits rather than one canonical premise, so a group must settle its own zombie rules and tone first. | 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. |