Mage: The Ascension vs Troika!
Compare Mage: The Ascension and Troika! side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Mage: The Ascension | Troika! | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Modern, Horror | Fantasy, Scifi |
| Tags | Freeform Magic, Character Building, Crunchy, High-Power, Roll to Cast, Skill-Based, Lore-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics | Rules-Light, Weird, Random Character Creation, Low-Prep, Improvisation, Deadly, Random Tables |
| 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. | Three stats: Skill, Stamina, Luck. Roll 2d6 under Skill + Advanced Skill to succeed. Initiative uses a random token-draw stack: unpredictable turn order. Luck is a consumable resource that depletes with each test. |
| Dice | d10 dice pool | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Very High | Very Low |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Open (Troika! SRD) |
| 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 | Melsonian Arts Council |
| Year | 2015 | 2019 |
| 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. | Fast, surreal science-fantasy adventures with minimal rules and random character generation. Ideal for one-shots and improvisational play. |
| 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. | Simple rules, creative backgrounds double as setting material, chaotic token-draw initiative creates unpredictable turn order, consumable Luck depletes with each test |
| 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. | Initiative stack can leave players unable to act for long stretches, mixed roll-under/roll-over mechanics confuse new players, setting is implied rather than described, minimal tactical depth |