Mage: The Ascension vs Mistfall: Armageddon
Compare Mage: The Ascension and Mistfall: Armageddon side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | Mistfall: Armageddon | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Fantasy, Modern |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, Fiction-First, Character-Driven, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Urban Fantasy | Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Freeform Magic, Corruption, Character-Driven, Character Building, Crunchy, Lore-Heavy, Social Combat, Narrative |
| Core Mechanic | Roll an Attribute-plus-Ability pool of d10s and count dice meeting the difficulty, usually 6. Each rolled 1 cancels a success. A roll botches only when no die meets the difficulty and at least one die shows 1. Magick instead rolls Arete, the mage's enlightenment rating, against a difficulty based on the highest Sphere used and whether the effect violates ordinary reality. Successes determine the effect's extent. | A check adds a characteristic and a Skill die, then subtracts a Fate die, and succeeds when the total equals or beats a Challenge Level from 1 to 30. Skill rank sets the Skill die, from d4 untrained up to d20 plus d4 at rank seven. Each hindering element in the scene adds a rank of Fate, stepping the Fate die from d4 up to d20. A total below 1 is a Bane that brings a major complication. A total of double the Challenge Level or more is a heroic triumph that earns a Boon. Players roll for their own actions and for defense against adversaries. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d4–d20 |
| Complexity | Very High | High |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault | Noncommercial only — Fair Use Conditions printed in the rulebook |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Onyx Path Publishing | 7th Reality Games |
| Year | 2015 | 2026 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish | English |
| Best For | Groups who want long modern occult campaigns about conflicting beliefs and the consequences of reshaping reality. | Groups who want long urban-fantasy campaigns built around each character's personal nemesis, with deep investment in interlocking talents, traits and freeform magic. |
| Highlights | Nine Spheres combine into improvised magical effects beyond a fixed spell list. A mage's beliefs determine the practices and instruments that make those effects possible. Concealing magick within plausible events reduces the risk of reality's backlash. | Each player designs a personal nemesis, and confronting it at the climax of a Nemesis Cycle (nine sessions is the recommended length) grants Edge win or lose and a characteristic increase on a win. Spells are assembled from manifestations and tags, with larger combinations costing more Soul on the caster's Corruption tracker. Damage to a player character lands on six status trackers tied to the six characteristics, so a social or financial attack wears down Influence or Affluence the way a blade wears down Physicality. |
| Considerations | Improvised magick requires the group to agree on what an effect can accomplish before rolling. Accumulated Paradox can injure a mage or trap them in a distorted reality. Cabals need shared motives to keep incompatible faction loyalties from pulling the campaign apart. | The core book contains no ready-to-play adventure, so a first session needs the free Quick Start scenario or material the Narrator builds. Character creation runs ten steps and ends with each player co-designing a nemesis, which makes it a full Session Zero activity. The mechanical content is dark: the Insanity injury table includes self-harm and suicidal ideation, and Warlock patrons can demand the blood sacrifice of an innocent. |