Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="King of Old School" data-source="post: 2069046" data-attributes="member: 8789">As for the original question, I'd go with the WW version unless you're already a GURPS 3e player.  The two versions share the same setting but the games are radically different because system is a key part of Mage, moreso than any other World of Darkness game IMO.  If you like GURPS 3e and the assumptions which underlie that system, then you may prefer the GURPS version of Mage but otherwise I'd stick with the system that best matches the designers' vision of the game.  I'll only be discussing the WW (Storyteller) versions here.(Also, the WW corebook may be out of print, but the GURPS version has been out of print even longer... did you just happen to see an old copy on the shelves of your FLGS?  It's very old, based on the 1st edition of Mage.)There are three editions of Mage: 1st edition has wild ideas but is largely impenetrable as a game, I'd avoid it unless you're a very experienced GM with at least a minor in philosophy.  The 2nd edition is arguably the most popular and features the most open version of the setting -- perhaps too open,  it's hard for many people to wrap their heads around the sheer scope and decide what to do with it.  The misnamed Revised Edition (it's a 3rd edition in every meaningful way) attempts to narrow the focus of the game to enhance playability, with very mixed success that was badly hobbled by some atrocious editing and development choices in the corebook.  Revised has probably inspired more internecine flamewars than any other RPG.  To be fair, it's the version with the clearest writing and easiest-to-understand magic system.All of the versions are quite challenging conceptually and I'd recommend them only to gamers with a solid GM who is confident in making on-the-spot judgement calls regarding the application of rules; the magic system would be an utter nightmare to play with a group that had a problem with rules-lawyering.  It's very open and freeform, which can be a strength or a weakness depending on how you use it.  It also requires that the players are willing to invest some time and effort to define their characters beyond "I'm Bob the Wizard" as the rules integrate character concept into the system (Paradigm).  No uniform list of spells like D&D here, you actually have to think about your character's beliefs and how those translate into magical abilities.If you can find it cheap and are really eager, I'd suggest getting either the 2nd edition or Revised from eBay.  But if you can wait, your best bet is to purchase the World of Darkness corebook and then wait for Mage: the Awakening which is (tentatively) scheduled for a Gencon release.  The new edition of the game should be dispensing with some of the more problematic cosmological bits of the old game and if the new Vampire and Werewolf games are any indication, the new Mage should work a whole lot better than the old game.KoOS</blockquote>

Verification