Mage: The Ascension vs OSRIC
Compare Mage: The Ascension and OSRIC side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | OSRIC | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Fantasy |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics | Dungeon Crawl, Tactical, High-Fantasy, Character Building, Theater of the Mind, Heroic, Descending AC, Vancian Casting |
| 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. | Roll d20 + modifiers vs. target numbers (THAC0/AC for combat, saving throws for hazards). Ability scores rolled on 3d6, class and level determine hit dice, spells, and abilities. GM acts as referee for rulings. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d20 |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Medium |
| License | All Rights Reserved | AELF + CC BY 4.0 (SRD 5.1) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | Free |
| Publisher | Onyx Path Publishing | Mythmere Games |
| Year | 2015 | 2025 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish | English |
| 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. | Players who want the classic AD&D 1e experience with cleaner organization, well-defined rules for combat and spells, and a huge library of compatible OSR content. |
| 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. | Faithful AD&D 1e rules reorganized for clarity, large back-catalog of compatible adventures, middle-ground complexity between B/X and modern D&D, free PDF available |
| 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. | Deliberately old-school: THAC0 and descending AC may confuse modern players, less balanced than modern systems, relies heavily on GM rulings, limited character customization compared to newer games |