Dice & Glory vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare Dice & Glory and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dice & Glory | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Universal | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Crunchy, Toolkit, Character Building, Simulation, Tactical, Freeform Magic, Superpowers | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | Dice Check: roll d20 plus a skill modifier (skill rank + attribute + miscellaneous) and meet or beat a difficulty the GM sets. Standard difficulties run from 10 for easy to 35 for impossible. Attack rolls and saving throws use the same d20, though an attack must also beat the target's Agility Class. A natural 20 is a critical success and a natural 1 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 | d20 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | 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 | Ranger Games Publishing | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2014 | 2015 |
| Best For | Rules-comfortable groups building a long campaign from scratch, who would rather engineer a spell or a fighting style than choose one from a list. | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. |
| Highlights | Experience points work as a currency rather than a level track, so an attribute increase and an extra attack come off the same price list. The core book contains no spell list, so a spell is built from its method and effect and then developed with money and time. Knockout points absorb nonlethal damage while weapons bypass them for hit points, so beating an opponent unconscious and killing them are different outcomes. | 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 | Task resolution switches between high-roll d20 checks and roll-under percentile proficiencies, so two scales run side by side. Spells and superhuman powers are built rather than chosen from a list, so two characters of the same level can differ widely in practical capability. Power scale needs policing: fantasy, superheroic, divine, and modern technology all run on one framework. | 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. |