Castles & Crusades vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare Castles & Crusades and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Castles & Crusades | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Heroic, Dungeon Crawl, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Theater of the Mind, Vancian Casting | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | SIEGE Engine: roll d20 + modifier + level vs. Challenge Class (12 for primary attributes, 18 for secondary). Primary/secondary attribute distinction replaces complex skill lists with a single unified check system. | 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 | d20 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | Very High | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | OGL 1.0a | 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 | Troll Lord Games | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2004 | 2015 |
| Languages | English | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups wanting the classic AD&D feel with streamlined, unified mechanics: old-school spirit with modern ease of play. | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. |
| Highlights | SIEGE Engine unifies all attribute checks, easy to convert AD&D/d20 content, 13 classes with classic archetypes, fast character creation, large back-catalog of adventures | 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 | Primary/secondary attribute split can feel arbitrary, limited non-fantasy support | 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. |