In December 2015 our Mage: The Ascension 2E Bundle featured the 1995 Mage 2nd Edition tabletop roleplaying game from White Wolf Game Studio. Mage: The Ascension is the Classic World of Darkness game about power, self-discovery, and earning the wisdom to shape the world — plus the occasional battle across the moons of Jupiter.
Designed by Stewart Wieck, Mage: The Ascension was originally published in 1993 as the third Storyteller game (after (after Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse) in White Wolf’s original World of Darkness line. Visionary Mage line developer Satyros Phil Brucato masterminded the 1995 2nd Edition rulebook featured in this offer. Phil also designed the mammoth Mage 20th Anniversary Edition rulebook published in 2015 after a hugely successful 2014 Kickstarter campaign.
In Mage, reality is not fixed but works according to agreed assumptions enforced by the collective will of humanity, the Sleepers. Mages are mortal people who “Awaken” — that is, come to recognize reality is not static — and realize they can change the world through their will, usually channeled through magickal-with-a-K rituals or “scientific” practices. The central theme of Mage is the search for Ascension, not only for the individual but for all of mankind. What Ascension is, and how it is achieved, is purposely left undefined.
The specifics of each mage’s own belief, called a paradigm, guides him or her into joining either one of the nine mystical Traditions; the Technocracy (an organization that inaugurated the Age of Reason to bring science and truth to humanity); or to strike out alone as a Disparate (unaffiliated mage). Nonplayer adversaries include Marauders (mages whose paradigm has overwhelmed their sense of reality) and Nephandi (who seek to destroy or corrupt the world).
This all-new offer presented everything you need to run your own reality-bending Chronicle of the Nine Traditions vs. the Technocracy in an Ascension War that spans the Tellurian. Our Player’s Collection included four titles (retail value $47) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:
- Mage: The Ascension 2nd Edition (retail price $17): The 314-page 1995 rulebook for creating Awakened mortals who shape reality.
- The Book of Shadows: The Mage Players Guide (retail $11): The indispensable character supplement with Traits, backgrounds, equipment, and invaluable counsel.
- The Book of Crafts (retail $10): Eight Disparate magickal societies outside the familiar factions of the Ascension War.
- The Technomancer’s Toybox (retail $9): A marvelous collection of gadgets for Virtual Adepts, Sons of Ether, Technocrats, and others.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price rose in Arete and also got our entire Storyteller’s Collection with seven more titles (retail value $78):
- Guide to the Technocracy (retail $16): One of the finest Mage supplements, this comprehensive guide explains the Technocratic Union and lets you play as agents.
- The Book of Mirrors: Mage Storytellers Handbook (retail $11): A candid compendium of advice for running Mage Chronicles.
- Beyond the Barriers: The Book of Worlds (retail $13): A massive guide to the heavens, hells, Paradox realms, and mysterious Zones of the Umbra.
- The Book of Chantries (retail $11): Rules for creating your own magickal place of power, plus full descriptions of ten strongholds.
- The Book of Madness (retail $9): The 1995 first edition of the sourcebook about Nephandi, Marauders, Umbrood, and other dark mysticks.
- Hidden Lore (retail $9): An overflow book, originally included with the Mage Storyteller’s Screen, of goodies cut from the 2nd Edition rulebook.
- Ascension’s Right Hand (retail $9): All about the custos, the mortal (or not) followers and servants who help mages.
For this collection a Syndicate profiteer would charge you US$112, so consider this bargain price a blow against the Technocracy.
