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Title: The Mage by White Wolf, Nicky Rea, John Cobb, Jackie Cassada ISBN: 1565044401 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: May, 2001 Format: Misc. Supplies Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33
Rating: 5
Summary: Put your d20's down for a bit and look at this
Comment: Until I got this book, I was a lifelong D&D player. The d20 system is great, but one of its weaknesses is having too many options and not enough opportunities to use those options. What's the use of having lists of skills and feats a mile long if you only have an extremely limited number of skill slots and feat slots to spend? Enter the White Wolf system of rules. Without classes and levels, you're free to develop a set of strengths and weaknesses which make your character truly unique.
Now this can probably be said about any WW game, but I like mage for the genre: present-day to near-future. As a sci-fi and cyberpunk fan, mage meets and exceeds all my expectations of what the genre should be. It's tough, gritty and dark, but the world gives your characters a chance to make a difference. Anyone who wants a mix of magic and modern culture should give this game a try.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Storyteller's Perspective
Comment: I run a Mage game, and I like Third edition slightly better than 2nd. Admittedly, I don't particularly care for Technocrats, so my games rarely deal with the White Wolf meta-plot. However, the Ascension war being over seems logical, and even overdue; how could the Traditions, disparate, ill-organized, and argumentative, hope to triumph over hundreds of years of subtle work by the impeccably organized Technocratic Conventions?
Many of the complaints about 3rd ed., however, seem to center around the new difficulties for mages -- the Avatar Storm, increased Paradox, et c. However, if you look at the rest of the White Wolf World of Darkness games, you will see that mages have always been extremely powerful. A werewolf can take a mage in a fight, but not if the mage has time to prepare for him. The average mage can take down the average vampire easily, even using the White Wolf edict that considering vamps simple objects and transmuting them into lawnchairs should not be allowed. As for mage vs. a Fae, there is no contest. I have not read the revised editions of Werewolf or Vampire; however, in 2nd edition Changeling, which fits into the Revised publishing timeline, new abilities have been added to allow fae to more dramatically affect the mundane world, including ways of making your magical sword and pet dragon visible and dangerous to non-fae. I understand that balancing gestures are also being made in the other Revised books. White Wolf is attempting to even the playing field between the different books, so that if someone wants to, as people invariably do, mix PCs from different books together, the experience will be pleasant and balanced.
As a Mage GM, I am very aware of how powerful the characters really are; luckily, the players I work with are intelligent and creative, and their characters have paradigms and personality quirks that keep them from abusing their power. Three dots of Mind and you can brute-force information and cooperation from the GM's painstakingly built Non Player Characters, for example. Mage is a very high-powered system, and a few checks and balances aren't at all unreasonable.
Rating: 3
Summary: Second Edition still reigns supreme.
Comment: Mage, although being my favorite game, is very hard for starters to learn. The rules are complicated, and so is the setting. It has the highest potential for improvisation and abuse. Revised clears up many of these rules problems, but limits the story potential greatly.
Mage 2nd edition was a Universe spanning game. The revised edition seems to forget this. It makes the game very limited, and much less powered. The Technocracy (basically science wizards) has essentially won the war, and the Masters are trapped deep in the spirit world. This leaves only young mages around to fend for themselves, and teach an upcoming generation of mages the ropes. This serverely limits Mage in political games, and also in the spirit regions. The book neglects to mention most of these areas entirely. Especially the Digital Web.
Rule wise, this is all cleaned up. The damage system makes mages more fragile. Spheres are much better explained, and Paradox is finally something mages can fear! Gone are the days of shooting fireballs down mainstreet, and not caring about who gets hit. This servely limits power-gamers, but to what end? The story aspect of this game was largely weakend.
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Title: Werewolf: The Apocalypse by Brian Campbell, Deirdre Brooks, Steve Prescott ISBN: 1565043650 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: December, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Demon: The Fallen by Michael B. Lee, Greg Stolze, Adam Tinworth ISBN: 1588467503 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Guide to the Traditions by Bryan Armor, David Bolack, Zach Bush, Lynn Davis, Kevin Andrew Murphy, John Snead ISBN: 156504455X Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Vampire : The Masquerade (Revised Edition) by Justin Achilli, Andrew Bates, Phil Brucato, Richard E. Dansky, Ed Hall, Robert Hatch, Michael B. Lee ISBN: 1565042492 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Guide to the Technocracy by Phil Brucato, Steve Long, Tom deMayo ISBN: 1565044177 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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