Grimwild vs Mage: The Ascension

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

	Grimwild	Mage: The Ascension
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy, Modern, Horror
Tags	Narrative, Fiction-First, Cinematic, Character-Driven, Heroic, Low-Prep, Random Tables, Player-Only Rolls, CC-Licensed Rules	Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics
Core Mechanic	Roll a pool of d6 stat dice and take the highest: 6 is a perfect, 4–5 is messy (you succeed with trouble), 1–3 is grim. Two or more 6s is a critical. For harder tasks the GM adds d8 thorns, which can cut a high die down a tier. Players spend spark to boost rolls; the GM spends suspense to complicate them. The GM never rolls.	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 dice pool, d8	d10 dice pool
Complexity	Low	Very High
Accessibility	Very High	High
Runnability	High	Very High
License	CC BY 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	Free	$$
Publisher	Oddity Press	Onyx Path Publishing
Year	2025	2015
Best For	Groups who want fast, cinematic heroic fantasy that leans on dramatic story beats and character arcs rather than tactical grid combat.	Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world.
Highlights	Action rolls take the highest of a d6 stat pool for a perfect, messy, or grim result, so every roll lands on a three-tier outcome rather than pass/fail. The GM raises difficulty by adding d8 thorns that can cut an otherwise good result, scaling danger without changing the dice you roll. Pools of d6 track resources, threats, and clocks by dropping dice as they deplete, unifying hit points, supplies, and looming dangers into one countdown.	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 GM never rolls dice, so all pacing and threat escalation rest on GM judgment and spent suspense. Outcomes are deliberately cinematic rather than simulationist, abstracting away tactical positioning and precise resource accounting. Advancement is tied to resolving story and character arcs, so groups that skip arc play get little mechanical progression.	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.