Mage: The Ascension vs The Riddle of Steel

Compare Mage: The Ascension and The Riddle of Steel side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Mage: The Ascension	The Riddle of Steel
Genre	Fantasy, Modern, Horror	Fantasy
Tags	Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics	Tactical, Combat-Heavy, Deadly, Gritty, Simulation, Crunchy, Character-Driven, Freeform Magic, Classless, Lore-Heavy
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 a pool of d10s against a Target Number. Each die that meets or beats it is a success. Skill Tests roll an attribute's dice against the Skill Rating, where lower is better. Melee draws dice from a Combat Pool (Reflex plus Proficiency) that must cover attack and defense across a round's two exchanges. Spiritual Attributes add dice when a roll serves their stated focus.
Dice	d10 dice pool	d10 dice pool
Complexity	Very High	High
Accessibility	High	Very Low
Runnability	Very High	High
License	All Rights Reserved	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Storytellers Vault	No verified route found
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$$	Unavailable
Publisher	Onyx Path Publishing	Driftwood Publishing
Year	2015	2002
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.	Groups who want deadly, historically grounded melee decided by how fighters split their dice. It suits campaigns the Seneschal builds around each character's passions, drives, and destinies.
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.	Secret red-or-white die declarations and Combat Pool splits make each exchange a contest of reading the opponent. Points earned by acting on Spiritual Attributes add dice in play and also pay for advancement, rewarding characters who pursue their convictions. Sorcerers build spells on the fly from nine Vagaries, and each casting risks months of aging.
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.	There are no hit points, and one solid hit can kill a character outright. Sorcery is deliberately unbalanced against fighters, leaving the Seneschal to rein in sorcerer characters. Mass combat gets only an abstract contested Strategy roll, with no dedicated procedures for naval battles or sieges.