Fellowship vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare Fellowship and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Fellowship | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Fiction-First, Playbook-Driven, High-Fantasy, Heroic, Collaborative, Worldbuilding, CC-Licensed Rules, Strong GM Support | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat (Blood, Courage, Sense, Grace, or Wisdom). 10+ full success, 7–9 success with a cost, 6− the Overlord makes a Cut against you. Playbook moves trigger from fictional actions. Hope (roll 3d6 keep best two) and Despair (roll 3d6 keep worst two) modify all rolls and cancel each other out when both are present. | 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 | 2d6 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Medium | Very High |
| License | Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 | 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 | Liberi Gothica Games | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2019 | 2015 |
| Best For | Groups who want LOTR-style co-operative epic fantasy where one player commits to playing the evil Overlord throughout the campaign and each hero treats themselves as the spokesperson for an entire fantasy people. | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. |
| Highlights | Dedicated Overlord playbook lets one player run the villain throughout the campaign with structured threat, plan, and Cut mechanics. Each hero playbook grants full authority over their fantasy people's lore, history, and culture: players are the canonical voice for their species. Over a dozen Destiny playbooks unlock at level 5 to transform heroes into greater figures (Chosen One, Cyborg, Witch, Lord of Beasts, and others). CC BY-SA 4.0 license permits free modification and redistribution. | 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 | Requires one player to commit to running the villain full-time with no hero of their own. Hero playbooks are tightly themed around six fantasy archetypes (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Heir, Orc, Squire): groups wanting non-Tolkien-style species must reskin or hack the playbooks. Tracking Bonds, Companions, Hope, Despair, and tagged gear adds bookkeeping above the typical PbtA load. Whether a fictional Advantage exists for Finish Them often requires table interpretation. | 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. |