Mage: Ascension vs Awakening

[ProfessorCirno]

You got that one wrong!

nChangeling is far better then Otherkin: the Glamourbombing

 

[Crothian]

nChangeling is far better then Otherkin: the Glamourbombing

Playing abuse victims is more fun them other world creatures that have power in magic and imagination?

Should this be in its own thread? Would this kind of edition Wars be allowed here?

 

[Wombat]

I'll stick happily with my current character from NWoD:CH -- Max Drengle, Beast Pigeon and would-be private eye

OWoD: CH never really did it for me, but I'll leave it go after that

 

[Umbran]

In my humble opinion, Mage: the Ascension is one of the best and one of the worst games ever written. In the wrong hands, it is a mess and a half and more easily abused than just about any other game I've ever seen. In the right hands, it is a thing of beauty.

In my humble opinion, Mage: the Awakening fixed most of the bad things in the previous game, but in the process they destroyed all the good things about the game as well. The result is to my eyes a mediocre game. It is probably far easier for a new player or GM to work with, but I am not sure that makes up for the loss.

 

[Umbran]

Playing abuse victims is more fun them other world creatures that have power in magic and imagination?

Insofar as the old Changeling really isn't so much "World of Darkness" as it is "World of Insufficient Light" yes. And mechanically speaking, the old Changeling has issues. I'm convinced they refer to "bunks" so much because much of the magical system is, well, bunk.

Not that the nWoD is perfect. The morality system, for example, needs a bit of work. I am not happy with any system that can technically lead to a character needing psychiatric care for forgetting to pay for a lip balm.

 

[Crothian]

Insofar as the old Changeling really isn't so much "World of Darkness" as it is "World of Insufficient Light" yes. And mechanically speaking, the old Changeling has issues. I'm convinced they refer to "bunks" so much because much of the magical system is, well, bunk.

Old Changeling could be very dark, or insufficient light. It was all over the place depending on what books you read and sometimes even in the same books it was very inconsistent. You had groups of child serial killers pages from lighthearted Nockers making Dr Seuss like contraptions. Mechanically the game had issues but IMO all the oWod games did. But of those old games it is my favorite.

 

[Mark Hope]

Thanks for the replies.

As it happens I've acquired virtually the entire Ascension back catalogue of books from a friend (the amount of splatbooks and fluff is daunting, this campaign won't start for a while). This has effectively made the decision for me, the first campaign I run will be Ascension although having read more into Awakening I would love to run an Awakening game at a later stage. I can't comment on the mechanics but I'm new to both in any case so it doesn't matter too much.

Awesome. Do keep us posted. I'm prepping a Mage: the Ascension game myself at the moment. Would be cool to hear your thoughts on getting into the game for the first time.

Also, +1 for a nice, vicious Changeling edition war! Would make a change from the 3tard/4ron treadmill...

 

[Umbran]

It was all over the place depending on what books you read and sometimes even in the same books it was very inconsistent.

This is not what I'd call a positive selling point.

I haven't read all the supplementary material - I'm simply going on the basic book. It seems to me that while in theory you could have some dark stuff happening, the goofy magical system would make such seem a bit incongruous, to me. Especially the first edition - "Now, to complete my fell magics I will... make moose antlers at you! Mongamongamong!"

 

[Mercule]

Geist >>> everything else holy crap this is awesome.

Why?

 

[Crothian]

This is not what I'd call a positive selling point.

I haven't read all the supplementary material - I'm simply going on the basic book. It seems to me that while in theory you could have some dark stuff happening, the goofy magical system would make such seem a bit incongruous, to me. Especially the first edition - "Now, to complete my fell magics I will... make moose antlers at you! Mongamongamong!"

I wasn't trying to be ad for the game. It has flaws and after years of running it I ran into most of them. Second edition did a lot to help with the themes and bring it more in line with oWod. There are some pretty well done crossover books as well that mixes games and shows how they interact. It became much more of Changelings are the last bit of magic in the world and soon the mundane nature of reality will kill what you are and turn you into one of them.