Brachyr System vs Mage: The Ascension

Compare Brachyr System and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Brachyr System	Mage: The Ascension
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy, Modern, Horror
Tags	Classless, Skill-Based, Tactical, Crunchy, Deadly, Social Combat	Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, Fiction-First, Character-Driven, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Urban Fantasy
Core Mechanic	Roll a d8 'base die' plus a skill modifier equal to the number of abilities you possess in that skill, and meet or exceed a difficulty class assembled from +5 'complications' counted up for the task. You may add one tool die (sized d4 for a basic object up to d10 for a quality magical one) and one aid die supplied by a helping ally, all added together, though a check is hard-capped at those three dice (plus the modifier) so the totals never balloon. Attacks and debate arguments are resolved against a defence check the target rolls with a skill of their own, and the margin between the two rolls becomes the damage dealt to health or to a position.	Roll an Attribute-plus-Ability pool of d10s and count dice meeting the difficulty, usually 6. Each rolled 1 cancels a success. A roll botches only when no die meets the difficulty and at least one die shows 1. Magick instead rolls Arete, the mage's enlightenment rating, against a difficulty based on the highest Sphere used and whether the effect violates ordinary reality. Successes determine the effect's extent.
Dice	d4–d10	d10 dice pool
Complexity	High	Very High
Accessibility	Very High	High
Runnability	Low	Very High
License	Proprietary	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	Free	$$
Publisher	David Gower	Onyx Path Publishing
Year	2024	2015
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish
Best For	Groups who want a crunchy, classless fantasy game where teamwork is mechanically central: coordinating tools and aid raises the whole party's odds, combat on a hex grid is deadly enough to demand cooperation, and social conflict gets the same tactical depth as a fight.	Groups who want long modern occult campaigns about conflicting beliefs and the consequences of reshaping reality.
Highlights	Most usable objects grant a tool die and an adjacent ally can lend an aid die, both added to your d8 base roll, while a hard cap of one tool die and one aid die per check keeps a coordinated, well-equipped party ahead of a lone expert without letting the totals balloon. Debates run as a full parallel to combat with their own initiative, rounds, and 'damage' dealt to a position, where gathered evidence acts as tool dice and named fallacies like Straw Man and Beg the Question function as special attacks. Weapons are assembled from a point-buy list of traits (Damage, Reach, Range, Parry, Aiding) rather than picked from a fixed list, so an improvised rope dart, torch, or household tool can be statted as readily as a sword.	Nine Spheres combine into improvised magical effects beyond a fixed spell list. A mage's beliefs determine the practices and instruments that make those effects possible. Concealing magick within plausible events reduces the risk of reality's backlash.
Considerations	Player options in the core rulebook reach only the lowest three of nine ability tiers, so the most powerful character abilities are defined but not accessible from this book alone. Resolution rests on a single d8 base die that tools and ally aid can supplement but never replace, so even high-skill characters see swingy results from roll to roll. There is no money or tracked coin: gear is acquired through an abstract Trade check against an item's difficulty scaled to social status, abstracting economic play away entirely.	Improvised magick requires the group to agree on what an effect can accomplish before rolling. Accumulated Paradox can injure a mage or trap them in a distorted reality. Cabals need shared motives to keep incompatible faction loyalties from pulling the campaign apart.