Hey, everyone. First post here!

Hey, everyone. First post here!

Hey, everyone. First post here!

I’ve been wanting to play a Mage: the Ascension adventure for a while, but I don’t really like the system. So I dug around and found this ptba hack by Holden Lee Shearer.

Since I’m new to (but really curious about) the Apocalypse engine, I was hoping to get your thoughts on the hack. It seems pretty cool to me, specially the ways he adapts the magic system, but I don’t have a lot of experience.

And if you liked Holden’s work, he’s done every World of Darkness game and posted on his Patreon for free!

Thanks and good weekend

https://www.patreon.com/posts/powered-by-dark-19712458

26 thoughts on “Hey, everyone. First post here!”

  1. Thanks for the link. I’m not terribly familiar with the WoD source material but a lot of people looking for a political/supernatural faction game seem to gravitate to Urban Shadows. Wether the available playbooks offer enough for a group if mage based PCs I don’t know.

  2. Thanks for the link. I’m not terribly familiar with the WoD source material but a lot of people looking for a political/supernatural faction game seem to gravitate to Urban Shadows. Wether the available playbooks offer enough for a group if mage based PCs I don’t know.

  3. Urban Shadows isn’t really a great fit for Mage, because it doesn’t dive into the intentionally bizarre and esoteric setting. Mages are basically playing a whole ‘nother ball game in WoD.

  4. Urban Shadows isn’t really a great fit for Mage, because it doesn’t dive into the intentionally bizarre and esoteric setting. Mages are basically playing a whole ‘nother ball game in WoD.

  9. Ooh. I’m in the same boat. Eager to play with the concept but not the game system. I read through these and they look like a neat mix of some slick Monsterhearts mechanics with the themes and style of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

    It looks crunchier than most PbtA games (especially with that big magic modifiers chart), but I think that perception may be more about the presentation, with moves divided by sphere rather than playbook. I’m not very familiar with the setting, so I know nothing about the Traditions and whatnot, but I’m quite interested to try this version of Ascension. If I do, I’ll definitely let you know what I think.

  10. Ooh. I’m in the same boat. Eager to play with the concept but not the game system. I read through these and they look like a neat mix of some slick Monsterhearts mechanics with the themes and style of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

    It looks crunchier than most PbtA games (especially with that big magic modifiers chart), but I think that perception may be more about the presentation, with moves divided by sphere rather than playbook. I’m not very familiar with the setting, so I know nothing about the Traditions and whatnot, but I’m quite interested to try this version of Ascension. If I do, I’ll definitely let you know what I think.

  11. Thanks for sharing!

    People are wanting to start up a V:tM 5ht game, but some of us are really not feeling the ‘traditional games’ (as they’re called in our national community).

    I’ve been contemtplating making V:tM into PBTA, but haven’t gotten around to it, and it’s hasen’t really been my ball game, at least since a bit after the turn of the millennium).

    I have Urban Shadows, but Urban Shadows doesn’t have the nostalgia I believe many of us crave. How is the V:tM-version?

  12. Thanks for sharing!

    People are wanting to start up a V:tM 5ht game, but some of us are really not feeling the ‘traditional games’ (as they’re called in our national community).

    I’ve been contemtplating making V:tM into PBTA, but haven’t gotten around to it, and it’s hasen’t really been my ball game, at least since a bit after the turn of the millennium).

    I have Urban Shadows, but Urban Shadows doesn’t have the nostalgia I believe many of us crave. How is the V:tM-version?

  13. Andy Hauge Alun Rees Asher Silberman Yeah, I looked at Urban Shadows for a minute, but the real fun in Mage is the magic system and the trippy setting. Urban seems like a good game for a WoD feel in general, but I agree with Andy, Mage is on another level of weird

  14. Andy Hauge Alun Rees Asher Silberman Yeah, I looked at Urban Shadows for a minute, but the real fun in Mage is the magic system and the trippy setting. Urban seems like a good game for a WoD feel in general, but I agree with Andy, Mage is on another level of weird

  15. Adam Minnie Thanks! I also though it was a bit crunchy, but I guess it is so due to the author’s attempt to incorporate every aspect of the original game. He leaves nothing out and Mage has a TON of stuff. I like the idea of spheres and doing the same effect in different ways according to your approach to magic. What I don’t know how to judge are mostly the basic moves, since I don’t have a lot of experience with ptba

  16. Adam Minnie Thanks! I also though it was a bit crunchy, but I guess it is so due to the author’s attempt to incorporate every aspect of the original game. He leaves nothing out and Mage has a TON of stuff. I like the idea of spheres and doing the same effect in different ways according to your approach to magic. What I don’t know how to judge are mostly the basic moves, since I don’t have a lot of experience with ptba

  17. Michael Esperum Much like the Mage hack, it tries to incorporate every aspect of the original game in the ptba system. I guess it makes the game a little crunchier, like Adam observed, but I think it’s a good starting point to pick and choose the best rules for you

  18. Michael Esperum Much like the Mage hack, it tries to incorporate every aspect of the original game in the ptba system. I guess it makes the game a little crunchier, like Adam observed, but I think it’s a good starting point to pick and choose the best rules for you

  23. Márcio Moreira Without playing it, I would guess the basic moves would work fine, other than the stats being hard to conceptualize and differentiate. The moves seem sort of oddly arranged into neat little sets of three. Many of the moves come pretty clearly from solid inspiration, like Monsterhearts. Insight and Conditions look a lot like Strings and Conditions from MH2, so they probably work as well as they do in MH2. I like the idea of Insight being more defined than strings, but I wonder if noting the substance of each insight will feel empowering and character defining or tedious. Paradox and the storm gathering look solid, elegant. Building the spheres as specific moves rather than stats is also wonderful, since it helps codify what a given mage can and can’t do better than the default system.

    The pardigm/practice/tools are the fuzziest part for me, but possibly just because I’ve not played the original Mage game. The purely subjectiveness of reality is very esoteric, but possibly in a way that fits the themes of this sort of game.

    If/when I play this, which I still aim to, I would be sure to focus on the human elements of the mages, such as a core emotional need, and probably I would want the initial Insights they give to other players to also have an emotional drama to them, like in Dramasystem where PC1 says what emotional payoff they want from PC2 and then PC2 says why they can’t give it to them.

  24. Márcio Moreira Without playing it, I would guess the basic moves would work fine, other than the stats being hard to conceptualize and differentiate. The moves seem sort of oddly arranged into neat little sets of three. Many of the moves come pretty clearly from solid inspiration, like Monsterhearts. Insight and Conditions look a lot like Strings and Conditions from MH2, so they probably work as well as they do in MH2. I like the idea of Insight being more defined than strings, but I wonder if noting the substance of each insight will feel empowering and character defining or tedious. Paradox and the storm gathering look solid, elegant. Building the spheres as specific moves rather than stats is also wonderful, since it helps codify what a given mage can and can’t do better than the default system.

    The pardigm/practice/tools are the fuzziest part for me, but possibly just because I’ve not played the original Mage game. The purely subjectiveness of reality is very esoteric, but possibly in a way that fits the themes of this sort of game.

    If/when I play this, which I still aim to, I would be sure to focus on the human elements of the mages, such as a core emotional need, and probably I would want the initial Insights they give to other players to also have an emotional drama to them, like in Dramasystem where PC1 says what emotional payoff they want from PC2 and then PC2 says why they can’t give it to them.

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