Conan: The Hyborian Age vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare Conan: The Hyborian Age and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Conan: The Hyborian Age | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Classless, Combat-Heavy, Cinematic, Gritty, Licensed IP, Low-Prep, Skill-Based, Strong GM Support, Sword & Sorcery, Tactical | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a Stat die, add the Stat value and modifiers, and meet or exceed a GM-set Difficulty. Player characters also roll a separate Flex die with nearly every roll; a maximum result triggers a choice such as gaining Stamina, turning failure into success, refunding sorcery costs, or inflicting Massive Damage. | 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–d10 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Monolith Board Games SARL | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2025 | 2015 |
| Best For | Groups who want combat-forward Conan adventures of treasure hunting in lost cities and ancient tombs. Sorcery is rare and costly. | 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 player-only Flex die turns maximum results into immediate choices such as automatic success, Stamina, a sorcery refund, or Massive Damage. Stamina lets characters push movement, rolls, damage, and learned skills when the moment matters. Abstract Range supports combat without a physical map, while optional Areas add map-based positioning without replacing the core procedure. | 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 | Combat asks players to track action economy, defenses, and resource state at once. Sorcery is restricted by character Origin and can consume Life, Stamina, actions, and ongoing upkeep. Wealth and noncombat possessions are abstract, while difficulty, encounter tuning, and dramatic interventions rely on GM judgment. | 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. |