ICONS vs Mage: The Ascension

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

	ICONS	Mage: The Ascension
Genre	Superhero, Modern	Fantasy, Modern, Horror
Tags	Superpowers, Heroic, Cinematic, Rules-Light, Random Character Creation, Tag-Based, Theater of the Mind, Beginner-Friendly	Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics
Core Mechanic	Effort vs. Difficulty. Each side adds a single d6 to a 1–10 ability level (acting Ability + d6 for effort, opposing Ability + d6 for difficulty); subtract difficulty from effort to find the outcome and its degree (marginal, moderate, major, or massive success or failure). Qualities are short narrative descriptors (titles, drives, catchphrases, weaknesses) that any player or the GM can activate to gain an advantage or create trouble. Activating trouble against your own hero earns Determination Points, which fuel stunts, retcons, ability boosts, and other player-side narrative interventions.	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	Low	Very High
Accessibility	High	High
Runnability	Medium	Very High
License	OGL 1.0a	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	Green Ronin Publishing	Onyx Path Publishing
Year	2014	2015
Languages	English	English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish
Best For	Groups who want fast superhero campaigns where heroes can be rolled up in minutes, freeform qualities drive both advantages and complications, and the rules stay out of the way of comic-book pacing.	Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world.
Highlights	Hero creation runs through a handful of dice rolls: origin (Trained, Transformed, Birthright, Gimmick, Artificial, Unearthly), six attributes, number and type of powers, and specialties. It produces a complete superhero in minutes, with the random results functioning as creative prompts for backstory rather than constraints on concept. Qualities act like Fate aspects: any side can invoke them for in-fiction advantage, and accepting compelled trouble against your own qualities is the primary way to refill Determination Points, so personal drama directly feeds the metacurrency. Pyramid tests resolve complex challenges by stacking smaller successes (two moderate successes equal a major, two majors equal a massive), letting investigations, chases, or skill montages play out across multiple rolls and abilities with optional modifiers like Timed, Escalating, Collapsing, and Competitive to shape the challenge.	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	Default hero creation is fully random (origin, attributes, and powers all come off 2d6 tables), so groups wanting a planned concept need to use the alternate 45-point buy or rely on attribute swaps and re-rolls. Combat resolves against a single Stamina pool (Strength + Willpower) with no grid rules or status conditions beyond a handful of effect powers, so brawls play fast but lack tactical positional depth. Powers are intentionally broad rather than deep (about sixty powers cover the genre), and exotic builds rely on stacking extras and limits rather than the granular menu of effects found in crunchier supers games.	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.