Kids on Brooms vs Mage: The Ascension
Compare Kids on Brooms and Mage: The Ascension side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Kids on Brooms | Mage: The Ascension | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Modern, Horror |
| Tags | Magic School, Freeform Magic, Roll to Cast, Collaborative, Worldbuilding, Rules-Light, Low-Prep, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Beginner-Friendly, Family-Friendly | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics |
| Core Mechanic | Each of six stats has a die from d4 to d20; roll the relevant die against a GM-set difficulty. A maximum die result that still misses triggers a Lucky Break reroll, adding the new result. Failed checks grant Adversity Tokens that players can later spend to raise 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 | d4–d20 | d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | Low | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | Low | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | No verified route found | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Hunters Entertainment / Renegade Game Studios | Onyx Path Publishing |
| Year | 2020 | 2015 |
| Languages | English, Italian | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups that want to build a magical school together and tell adventures from its rumors and relationships. It suits tables that prefer a light check system and open-ended magic over tactical 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 | Players build their school together and seed its history with rumors that the GM can turn into adventures. Open-ended spells use the intended effect and scope to set a difficulty, letting students attempt magic without a fixed spell list. Relationship questions establish bonds among characters before play and give the GM personal story hooks. | 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 judges target numbers for ordinary checks using example anchors rather than a fixed formula. Spell difficulty depends on four effect categories, asking the GM to price each new magical attempt. Combat resolves through opposed checks and an injury chart without tactical positioning rules. | 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. |