Coyote & Crow vs Mage: The Ascension

Compare Coyote & Crow and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Coyote & Crow	Mage: The Ascension
Genre	Scifi, Fantasy	Fantasy, Modern, Horror
Tags	Character Building, Character-Driven, Classless, Skill-Based, Tactical, Theater of the Mind, Lore-Heavy, Heroic	Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics
Core Mechanic	Build a d12 pool from Skill Rank, the applicable related Stat, and modifiers. Trained Skills use the higher related Stat, while Rank 0 uses the lower. Each die meeting the Success Number, usually 8, adds one success. Each 1 subtracts a success, while each 12 creates a Critical die. A positive total succeeds, 0 fails, and a negative total is a critical failure.	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	d12 dice pool	d10 dice pool
Complexity	High	Very High
Accessibility	High	High
Runnability	Very High	Very High
License	All Rights Reserved	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	Coyote & Crow Games	Onyx Path Publishing
Year	2021	2015
Languages	English, Italian	English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish
Best For	Groups that want character-driven exploration and protection in an Indigenous science-fantasy future. It suits tables that prefer consequential choices and tactical conflicts resolved through abstract range bands.	Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world.
Highlights	Player-authored Goals turn character ambitions into advancement, keeping campaign development tied to choices made in play. Chosen Initiative makes turn order a recurring tactical decision instead of a one-time roll. The Three Path Concept turns non-linear scenario design into a concrete prep tool, so major obstacles support meaningful alternatives to combat.	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	The unified check is consistent, but character options and interlocking encounter procedures create substantial rules overhead. Success Numbers and critical Story Events depend on Story Guide judgment, so consistent difficulty and consequences require steady table rulings. The setting leaves much of its metaphysics deliberately open, requiring the group to establish what is real before play.	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.