Mage: The Ascension vs Tiny Supers
Compare Mage: The Ascension and Tiny Supers side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | Tiny Supers | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Superhero, Modern, Scifi |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics | Rules-Light, Beginner-Friendly, Fast-Paced, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Superpowers, Heroic, Low-Prep |
| 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 2d6 for a Test; any 5 or 6 succeeds. Advantage raises the pool to 3d6, while Disadvantage lowers it to 1d6 and normally takes precedence. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very High | Low |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved |
| 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 | Gallant Knight Games |
| Year | 2015 | 2019 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish | English, Spanish |
| 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 quick four-color superhero campaigns with flexible power levels and a GM comfortable making consistent rulings. |
| 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. | Tiered Power Traits let the same ability grow in potency without a separate point-buy system. Two-action combat makes Focus and Evade compete with movement and attacks. The GallantVerse and eight micro-verses supply campaign frames for city teams, cosmic defenders, and teen heroes. |
| 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. | The game assigns uncovered situations to consistent GM rulings rather than detailed procedures. Power concepts outside the fixed trait list depend on reskinning or GM-created effects. Advancement is optional and offers a small menu of upgrades. |