Mage: The Ascension vs Porkin' the Void
Compare Mage: The Ascension and Porkin' the Void side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | Porkin' the Void | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Scifi, Horror |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics | Gonzo, Comedy, Grimdark, Ship-Based, Space Opera, Deadly |
| 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 +/- ability score against a Difficulty Rating (DR 6–18). Equal to or greater than the DR succeeds. Five abilities (Agility, Strength, Toughness, Presence, and Technology) each range from -3 to +3. Players roll all dice: attacks (Strength for melee, Presence for ranged) and defense (Agility), all against DR 12 by default. Enemies never roll. Natural 20 is a crit; natural 1 is a fumble. Omens (luck points) can deal max damage, reroll dice, reduce incoming damage, or neutralize crits and fumbles. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d20 |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | MÖRK BORG Third Party License |
| 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 | Yog'du Games |
| Year | 2015 | 2022 |
| 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. | Groups who want a gonzo, darkly comedic sci-fi game where anthropomorphic pig-scum explore a doomed universe in styships, with Mork Borg's lethal simplicity expanded by cybernetics, psionics, and full spaceship creation and combat rules. |
| 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. | Full spaceship creation and combat system spanning 50+ pages, from hull design and modules to weapons and salvage. Ten optional character classes with randomized specialties, plus a classless option. Three subsystems layered onto the Mork Borg chassis: pigskins (techno-scrolls), hackable cybernetic implants, and six psionic disciplines. Extensive setting with multiple galactic empires, rival megacorporations, heretical cults, and an apocalyptic countdown. |
| 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. | 278-page rulebook is dense for a Mork Borg derivative, requiring substantially more reading than the base system. Content warning for pervasive profanity, crude humor, and deliberately vulgar themes that may not suit all groups. No free rules or quickstart: $15 PDF is the minimum entry point, though a free character generator (SwineBerther) exists online. Spaceship rules add significant complexity beyond what Mork Borg players may expect. |