Mage: The Ascension vs Maze Rats
Compare Mage: The Ascension and Maze Rats side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | Maze Rats | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Fantasy |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics | Rules-Light, Dungeon Crawl, Sandbox, Random Tables, Improvisation, Freeform Magic, CC-Licensed Rules |
| Core Mechanic | 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. | Danger Roll: roll 2d6 + ability bonus (STR, DEX, or WIL), 10+ avoids danger. Advantage rolls 3d6 keep best two. Attack rolls use 2d6 + Attack Bonus vs. target's Armor. Spells are randomly generated from combination tables (effect + element + form) and erased after casting. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Very High | Very Low |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | CC BY 4.0 |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $ |
| Publisher | Onyx Path Publishing | Swordfish Islands LLC |
| Year | 2015 | 2024 |
| Best For | Groups who want long-form modern occult campaigns about reality-shaping power, ideological conflict, and the consequences of imposing belief on the world. | GMs who want a dead-simple system with extensive random tables that generate adventures, spells, NPCs, and monsters on the fly. |
| Highlights | 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. | Fits in 12 pages, extensive random tables for on-the-fly worldbuilding, spell generation system is highly creative, CC BY 4.0 license, near-zero prep |
| Considerations | 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. | Very minimal: experienced players may want more mechanical depth, no bestiary or setting included, advancement is slow and simple, assumes GM comfort with improvisation |