Mage: The Podcast

Mages are human. Love and romance are parts of their lives, so how do we add them? Friday Stout and Sebastian Yūe join to talk their project How to GM Romance which gives systems for romance plus plenty of ST advice.

How to GM Romance on Backerkit

Sample Pamphlet

Sebastian's Info Twitter: http://twitter.com/sebastianyue
Website: http://sebastianyue.ca/ttrpgs

Friday's Website: https://www.dollarsanddragons.com/

What would you do if you knew the world were in its last days? Our Brilliant Ruin from World of Darkness writers Justin Achilli and Rachel J. Wilkinson asks this question and we talk tools, methods, inspirations, and ideas for gaming in a world that's dying.

Our Brilliant Ruin site

Our Brilliant Ruin on DTRPG

Rachel J Wilkinson's site

Studio Hermitage site

The Hsien are said to be the changelings of East Asia...but that's...a stretch, so why not use them in your Mage game instead? Adam and Terry talk Shinma, hanumen, suijen, and tasty tasty dragon's nests in Land of Eight Million Dreams.

Changeling the Podcast's Land of Eight Million Dreams episode

This book

Sources run the gamut for how many mages are running around the World of Darkness, how should your game change based on their commonality? Terry and Bryce talk low mage counts games and how to run them.

Ascension's Landscape - Terry's book of storyteller advice

Hidden Lore - 2e overflow book with mage count

Malcolm Sheppard's Distribution - Former writer's opinion on how many mages

Metaplot can be hard to approach, so how do pick what to add? How do you fill in what happened since Avatar Storm? Terry and Michael talk Avatar Storms, the Sphinx, STV supplements, and many many factional plot hooks.

The Riddle of the Sphinx - Michael's book on adding plot between Revised and M20

Strange Yesterdays - Alternatives to the 2e/Revised metaplot

The Year of the Lotus added East Asian elements to many gamelines, what can Mage players take from the supplements for other lines? Adam and Terry talk the Shih, the Shen, and ass tattoos in World of Darkness: Demon Hunter X.

World of Darkness: Demon Hunter X - This book

Land of Eight Million Dreams - Next book

Mages can live centuries with minds both powerful and fluid, how do we feature memory as a central story idea? Bryce and Terry talk the Mind Sphere, strategic forgetting and There Is No Antimemetics Division.

There Is No Antimemetics Division (CC) - One of the inspirations for the episode. Also available in dead tree form

SCP Foundation - Wiki that also contains information on some of the memetic entities mentioned

Nibiru - Billed as a science fiction game of lost memories

Mummy the Curse - Another game heavily featuring memory

M20 still has several releases in queue and Hiromi and Travis talk about them including two for M20 Victorian and two for M20's contemporary setting. This is an edited recording of the Oppcon 2024 M20 panel.

Travis Legge on DTRPG

Hiromi Cota on DTRPG

What if reality were even more malleable than Mage lets on and conspiracies existed to incept some new truth into existence? This is the world of The Department of Truth and we talk how to bring it into a Mage game.

The Department of Truth omnibus - First 17 issues. On sale as of this posting

Types of Conspiracies in the World of Darkness - Previous episode on a similar topic

Babalon Working - A working involving a prominent figure in Crowley's Thelema

Jack Parsons - He...he did some stuff

Splashin' Around - The song that got stuck in my head

Mage can be tuned to a lot of different play experiences but knowing how to do that is hard. This episode addresses just three things: who call for rolls, when to call one, and how to look at the results.

Finite and Infinite Games - Philosophy book on the nature of play

The Hedge serves as both a strange place with its own denizens and border between Arcadia and the mundane world in Changeling the Lost. How can we use it in the World of Darkness? Lauren Roy joins to explain how!

The Hedge - This book!

Damnation City - A darn good book on city building

Changeling: The Lost 2e

SNL Well Skit

Lauren works

Gnosticism has ancient roots and is mentioned at across various WoD lines. How can we reflect Gnosticism and Gnostic magick in Mage? Pook joins to talk Sophia, Yaldabaoth, the Pleroma, and the Cainite Heresy.

Nostradamus's Cherry Jams

World of Darkness Books

Cainite Heresy - Dark Ages Vampire book with a wild take on Gnosticism.

The Paradigm's Progress - Pook's book on Paradigm advancement

Other Books

• Michael Baigent - A British author known for his works on the historical Jesus and conspiracy theories.
• Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - A science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick that explores themes of reality and illusion.
• Valis - A science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick that delves into Gnosticism and reality.
• Current Gnostic churches - Modern religious movements influenced by ancient Gnostic traditions.
• The Thunder, Perfect Mind - A Gnostic poem discovered among the Nag Hammadi library texts.
• The Gospel of Truth - A Gnostic text that provides a unique interpretation of Christian teachings.
• The Gospel of Judas - An ancient Gnostic text that presents Judas Iscariot in a positive light.
• Voight-Kampff test - A fictional test used in the Blade Runner universe to distinguish humans from replicants.

The Maya and Dreaming are only lightly described in Mage, where can we look to for more options? Why Changeling! Terry and Adam read Dreams and Nightmares with an eye to using it in Mage with all its trods, mists, and chimera.

Dreams and Nightmares - This book

Changeling the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition - The most recent core book

So what's everyone else makin'? This week Terry talks to Kris Newton of Megadumbcast, Mike Diamond of the Ascension of Babylon actual play and TL Webb's latest fiction, Crushing Depths.

Crushing Depths - Latest Hollow Earth fiction

TL Webb's Other Works

Megadumbcast Patreon - Get the megasodes

Ascension of Babylon -The Old Ways podcast

The Old Ways Patreon

Strange peoples lurk at the edges of the World of Darkness. How do we add them to our games? Pook and Terry talk the Sekrana, Chulorviah, The Watchers in the Deep, the Wyck, and other early humans.

BOOKS!

• Last Days of New Paris - A novel that imagines a surreal Paris overrun with manifestations of surrealist art.
• The City & The City - A detective story set in two cities that occupy the same space but are perceived separately by their residents.
• Perdido Street Station - A fantasy novel set in the sprawling city of New Crobuzon, filled with bizarre creatures and arcane technologies.
• Psionics Handbook - A resource book for the Dungeons & Dragons game, detailing psionic powers and characters.
• Teratology - An exploration of monsters and mythical beings from Invisible Sun
• Book of Gehenna - A dark fantasy book exploring the mythologies of the end of the world.
• Nim Chimpsky - A chimpanzee raised as a human child to test language acquisition
• 2001: A Space Odyssey - A classic science fiction novel that explores themes of evolution, technology, and consciousness.
• Sphere of Gun - A book that probably shouldn't exist

Mage draws upon sources both ancient and modern, what can they teach us about our games? Pook and Adam talk Books of Magic, the four-part series by Neil Gaiman for DC Comics in this installment of Reality Deviant Book Club.

Reading List for Hollow Earth Inspiration

The World of Darkness has all sorts of non-human peoples, how do we add them to Mage? Pook from Changeling the Podcast joins to talk about the Fomorians, Tuatha de Danaan, the Goro, Dero, Firstborn and the Djinn.

Sphere of Gun book

Episode on Dark Ages Fae

Episode on Beyond the Barriers: The Book of Worlds

Colorized Revised prints

The World of Darkness is full of supernatural conspiracies, but who falls in with them and how can we use them in our games? Jordan Etherington joins to talk methods and pitfalls when adding creeping conspiracy to your game.

• The Crying of Lot 49
• They Live
• The X Files
• Ahti (Control)
• Delta Green
• Unknown Armies
• Over the Edge
• Inside Job (Netflix)

How do we crack D&D's hegemony? What would a better World of Darkness convention experience be? What fun stuff did we find? Mike A of Darker Days Radio and Pooka G from Changeling the Podcast talk PAX Unplugged

Games we mention:

To Serve Her Wintry Hunger

The Electric State

Mr Gone's Character Sheets

The Walking Dead RPG

Werewolves see the Otherworlds differently with different senses, different passages, and possibly different places. Adam and Terry talk Umbra, Umbra Rev and W20 Umbra from the Scar to the planetary court.

Axis Mundi - A big book of spirits for Mage and Werewolf

Umbra: The Velvet Shadow - First Werewolf Umbra book

Umbra (Revised) - Revised edition Werewolf Umbra book

W20 Umbra: The Velvet Shadow - W20 Werewolf Umbra book

Umbra Revised on Werewolf the Podcast

Umbra high-level overview

Spirit high-level overview

Werewolves guard against mages raiding their caerns for quintessence but no one can stop us from raiding Werewolf books for story ideas! Adam and Terry talk Umbra, Umbra Rev and W20 Umbra from Chaos Stones to the Kami.

Axis Mundi - A big book of spirits for Mage and Werewolf

Umbra: The Velvet Shadow - First Werewolf Umbra book

Umbra (Revised) - Revised edition Werewolf Umbra book

W20 Umbra: The Velvet Shadow - W20 Werewolf Umbra book

Umbra Revised on Werewolf the Podcast

Umbra high-level overview

Spirit high-level overview

The Void Engineers get pigeon-holed as the Convention of space marines and voidships, but that's just one part. Bryce and Terry talk about what the Void Engineers do on Earth and how to run planetside VE stories.

M20 was a leap forward in how a character does magick with focus but how do we bring instrument, practice, and paradigm alive at the table? Charles Siegel walks through optional systems, high level explainers, and his reference work, Prism of Focus.

Prism of Focus on Storytellers Vault

M20 Victorian Age describes a world on the cusp of modernity steeped in gaslit mystery. Pook and Terry talk the perils of the straits, the intrigue of empire, and odd magicks re-emerging after centuries.

M20 Victorian Age Mage - This book

The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War - Book that discusses the rise in standard of living in the Western world

Changeling the Podcast's Discord - Organizing spot for the C30 project

Changeling the Podcast page - Their podcast!

What does magick look like in Shakespeare's England with Dee as Elizabeth's court astrologer and Walsingham's spies everywhere? Nathan Foxgrove joins to talk Navalon, the last skyriggers, and the Book of Oberon.

Book of Oberon - Reconstructed grimoire

The Fairie Queene - Looooong poem dedicated to Elizabeth

Monas Hieroglyphica - John Dee's glyphs

Real World Magic Texts with Brian Johnson

Kurt Andersen's Fantasyland - Book about why America is weird

Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America, Vol. 1 - Book on settlement of the British in the US

Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 - Big book of reformations

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard play

The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam

Dark Eras: Requiem for Regina (Vampire: the Requiem, Changeling: the Lost) - Chronicles Dark Eras setting in Elizabethan England

John Dee and the Empire of Angels: Enochian Magick and the Occult Roots of the Modern World

Dreamcatchers book for Hunter - Discussion, not the text

Mage is an intimidating game to run, so besides the rules, what to keep in mind when you start? Simon from Walking into Shadow and Terry talk recommendations to get a game a Mage that won't fall apart in one sitting.

Links!

Hellblazer

Fiasco

Band of Blades

Beating the Plot

Hamlet's Hitpoints

The Deep Umbra is vast and dangerous but full of wonders. So how do you get there? Hal Case, author of Umbral Pilots for W20 and M20, talks spirit-powered spaceships, plasma klaives and Garou/Mage relations.

Umbral Pilots - This book

The Shipyard - The expansion for the book

Dead Ends - Book of liches

Convention Book: Void Engineers - Rev resource on Mage Space

Arcanum House on FB

Arcanum House on Instagram

Rage across the Heavens review on WtP

Totem list

Set design of Alien

Rimrunners

Agon RPG

WEIRD EPISODE! First a little bit on how 2023 went for Mage the Podcast then a lost conversation with Noah H of The Story Told on Chronicles of Darkness and RPG art.

Noah's Wraith 20 overview

Noah around places:

• Noah on Instagram
• Noah on Artstation
• Noah on Facebook

Sandman is one of the most highly lauded comic runs to have ever been published, what can we take from it for our games? Pook and Adam discuss mood, inspiration, and TS Eliot in this edition of Reality Deviant Book Club.

The Annotated Sandman, which was a late 90s/early 00s passion project to capture as many internal connections and external references as possible, issue by issue.

TXT archive from an earlier version of the website

Vertigo released their own very expensive series with the same name, with "proper" annotations, but... using the power of the early internet to situate and discover the series' intertextuality felt a lot more magical.

What dies may not stay dead. Driven by hunger, vengeance or piety the Hungry Dead have rare knowledge and potent powers mages be drawn to. Hsien joins to talk their work in rewriting Kindred of the East.

Kindred of the East: The Relentless Age - This book

Kindred of the East - The original

Hsienfan on RPGnet - The author

When death isn't the end, what strange things can Sleepers get up to? Adam and Terry talk cauls, fennel swords, weird death tech, and more in the surprisingly useful-for-Mage The Quick and the Dead

Quick and the Dead - This book!

Want to have bards in your game, preserved guardians that uphold the Gauntlet, a weird holiday, or some minor Spheres? Pook and Terry talk STV books you can get right now for as little as pay what you want.

Tale Singers - Book on Bardism

Bog Bodies - Book on Guardians of the Gauntlet

Book of Days - Book on holidays and the calendar for Changeling but also good for Mage

Book of Fragments - Minor Spheres!

Apophis rises, Horus prepares, and mages go "this could get interesting". Adam and Terry talk the ka, khaibit, Cabiri, Ishmaelites and the vastly expanded landscape of Mummy in its Second Edition printing.

Mummy 2nd Edition - This book!

Mummy the Curse 2nd Edition - CoD book!

Religion in Mage with James Estes - Previous episode with the author

Jen Peters of ⁠Dork Tales⁠ joins to introduce the ⁠Paradox podcast⁠. A well-researched right series geared towards explaining Mage to completely new players. Does it succeed? Listen and find out! An entire episode of Paradox is included.

⁠Paradox Podcast on Podbean⁠

⁠Dork Tales on Youtube⁠

⁠Dork Tales on Twitch⁠

⁠M20 Visions and Vistas call for writers

Finally Adam and Terry talk deathless supernaturals in an unending war that stalk the night, mummies! A World of Darkness: Mummy contains strange creatures with strange ancient magic and we talk adding it to your Mage game.

A World of Darkness: Mummy⁠ - This book

US Route 666 - One of several

Mage/Mummy Crossover - previous episode on Mummy the Resurrection

Mummy the Cursed - Previous episode on Mummy the Cursed

How do you brainstorm plot threads? How do you come up with Umbrood names, McGuffin descriptions or outline NPCs? Adam and Terry walk through their processes for coming up with plot and creating Mage-sounding non-sense.

John Cleese spoke about creativity for Video Arts in January 1991.

Creativity: A Short & Cheerful Guide (book) by John Cleese
A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech, 1983 / 2008(newer)
A Kick in the Seat of the Pants by Roger von Oech, 1986
Electric Bastionland by Chris McDowall
Tome of Adventure Design by Matt Finch
The Dungeon Dozen by Jason Sholtis
Far Side Collection (newspaper comic strip)
Legends of Tono
The Classic of Mountains & Seas
Kojiki (I recommend the Donald Philippi translation)
Charles Dickens
G. K. Chesterton

Does the NWO control the CIA or the FBI? How entwined in the NSA are the Virtual Adepts? Adam and Terry talk NSA, CIA, FBI, what mages know about them and other weird 90s conspiracies in Project Twilight.

Project Twilight - This book

Mummy 1st Edition - Next book

Now, with corrected syncing!

Join Satyros and Walking into Shadow for a wide-ranging discussion on matching effect with paradigm, emulating other games, minimal and maximal interpretations of the rules, and Terry just yelling about things.

Otherworlds Illuminated: A "Mage Made Hard" Guide to the Umbra is out! If you want a version without AI art, that's available here: Generative AI Art-Free Version of Otherworlds Illuminated

Episode on One Dot Sphere Effects

Onyx Path Twitch Channel

What books do we wish Sorcerers Crusade had gotten? What do we pull from these historical settings? Should we be using pillars in the modern era? Terry and Adam answer your questions!

What strange things exist at the intersection of Night-Folk? Why a creepy circus! Mage the Podcast is joined by Werewolf the Podcast and Changeling the Podcast to talk ancient terrors, thirsty gods...and clowns.

Midnight Circus - This book!

World of Darkness: Hong Kong - Another generic WoD Book

Mage First Edition was a bold vision of game, but how to follow it up? Satyros provides an oral history of how Mage changed over its roughly first year from Book of Chantries to Book of Shadows.

Mage book list

Satyros on Patreon

Satyros on Amazon

How do you run paranormal investigation with access to Time 2? Does anyone besides the Technocracy do this regularly? Bryce and Terry talk weird artifacts, team dynamics and investigations that make sense in WoD.

Control (Video Game)

Twin Peaks

Psychic Self-Defense

Warehouse 13

The Rivers of London

Supernatural TV 

Laundry Files

Dresden Files

X-Files

SCP Podcast

There Is No Antimemetics Division

Have you ever said “My game needs more boats?” ⁠ World of Darkness: Blood-Dimmed Tides ⁠ talks ⁠new fae⁠, blood-sweating vampires, Hermetic boats and aquatic systems for days. What side are you on in the war between ⁠Dagon⁠ and ⁠Vatea⁠?

World of Darkness: Blood-Dimmed Tides - This book

William Hope Hodgeson - Author of boat stories

Naval institute press copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Adam's recommended translation

In a world rife with supernatural threats how do mortals take back the night? How do we add these actors and agencies to our games? Terry talks Hunter 5th, desperation, SAD post glow-up, and avatar lineages.

Project Twilight - Another mortal game book

The Second Inquisition - V5 book on powerful mortal groups

Hunter the Reckoning 5th⁠ - This book

John Beckwith joins to talk fiction involving the Technocratic Union and the Garou Nation in One Giant Leap for Inhumankind and then Satyros talks things that didn't make it into Victorian Mage in Scandals & Fisticuffs.

One Giant Leap for Inhumankind - Fiction

Scandals & Fisticuffs - Satyros' work that didn't make it into Victorian Mage

The Thing from Another World

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Deep Rock Galactic

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The Wall by Pink Floyd

Who is John Constantine and why is he in the Mage recommended reading list? Does he look like Sting? Can he help your Mage games? Pooka and Adam discuss what Hellblazer can offer us.

• ⁠John Constantine on DC Comics Wiki⁠⁠
• First volume of Hellblazer on Amazon.com

Dark Ages: Mage received only two formal books but Right of Princes tells how to run a Chantry and Darkening Sky provides an adventure. Adam and Terry talk domains, pooled backgrounds, eclipses, the Holy Land, and Frederick II.

Right of Princes - Dark Ages book on ruling and relating to mortals with some information on building a Chantry

Darkening Sky - A set of adventures for Dark Ages lines

Blood-Dimmed Tides - NEXT BOOOOK

What was the early vision of the Digital Web? What was the difference between the Dreaming and the High Umbra? What's it like writing the 2nd Tradition book? Harry Heckel, early may author joins to talk early Otherworlds.

Jack Heckel Novels - Harry's writing duo

Harry Heckel on the White Wolf wiki - Other things he's worked on

Preview of Mage Made Hard: The Umbra - Preview of the next Mage publication.

Tron - Inspirational for the Digital Web

Shadowrun - Lil more inspo

Cyberpunk 2020 - The original Cyberpunk RPG...that was popular

Welcome to Mage: The Podcast, a show dedicated to exploring the arcane depths of Mage: The Ascension! Prepare to embark on a spellbinding journey through a world where magic and reality intertwine, where mages wield unimaginable power!

🔮 Lore, Mechanics, Strategies - The Complete Mage Experience! 🔮

Venture into the vast realms of lore as we peel back the layers of Mage: The Ascension. Discover the hidden histories, the ancient cabals, and the cosmic tapestry that shapes the destiny of mages. It's a tale of mystique, intrigue, and unbridled potential!

⚙️ Master the Esoteric Mechanics! ⚙️

Delve into the profound mechanics of the game, where players take on the mantle of awe-inspiring mages. Unleash your imagination and command the Spheres of magic, altering the very fabric of existence. But beware the delicate balance of paradoxes and the fickle nature of Quintessence!

💡 Unleash Your Mage Strategies! 💡

Harness the wisdom of ages as we share battle-hardened strategies to ascend above your peers. Whether you're a diplomatic architect of peace or a volatile storm of magical fury, our insights will aid you on your journey to transcendence!

🤝 Join the Covenant of Mages! 🤝

No mage stands alone in the face of arcane wonders. Embrace the camaraderie of the Mage community, a gathering of fervent practitioners from every corner of the world. Engage in spirited discussions, exchange arcane wisdom, and forge lasting bonds with fellow seekers of enlightenment!

🔥 Ignite Your Imagination, Embrace the Mage Within! 🔥

If you yearn for a realm where reality is a canvas waiting for your sorcery, where the lines between possible and impossible blur, then subscribe to our channel and ring the 🔔 icon for all the latest enchanting episodes.

🌟 Unravel the Mysteries, Embrace the Journey! 🌟

Uncover the mystical prowess of Mage: The Podcast and immerse yourself in the enigmatic world of Mage: The Ascension!

The Fae of the Dark Ages differ markedly from their contemporary counterparts. Who are they and how could they exist in the modern world? Victor and Terry talk courts, re-emergence, church bells, and chaos as contract.

Dark Ages: Fae - This book!

What were the Garou doing in the Dark Ages? How many vampires were there in the cities? Was warfare just knights hurling insults? Jacob Klunder of the World of Dark Ages joins to prove Terry knows nothing about history.

The World of Dark Ages Podcast - Jacob's podcast where he says things he knows

Places of Mystery and Power - Jacob's newest Dark Ages Mage publication about places where thar be magick!

Island of the Dead God - A book outlining an island, containing a dead god!

The Awakened want power in a world slipping from their hands but what cost are they willing to pay? Devil's Due outlines infernalism in the Dark Ages and Adam and Terry talk investments, taints, and strange ancient evils.

Dark Ages: Devil's Due - This book

Demon: The Fallen - Contemporary Demon line

Dark Ages: Right of Princes - Next book

Dark Ages: Darkening Sky - Next book

All factions wage a war of both magickal truth but also of vibes. How do feelings shape experiences and how does that influence magick? Jordan Etherington joins to talk affect theory, description, a subtle war and Mage.

• ⁠Ashlands: M.E.R.C.s game⁠
• ⁠Soulbound: Dark Industrial Fantasy

Dark Ages Mage peaks into a world before the modern ascension war and Dark Ages Grimoire acts as tour guide in this strange land. Adam and Terry talk Certamen, Fellowship descriptions, Familiars and so much more on Pillars.

Dark Ages Mage Grimoire - This book

Dark Ages: Devil's Due - Next book!

Mage has space for paranormal investigations overseen by vast supernatural conspiracies, but how do build out strange events in our games? Sean Ireland joins to talk Triangle Agency, a game of superpowers, intrigue, and pathos.

Triangle Agency on Kickstarter Triangle Agency Delta Test - Pay what you want beta documents

Ea-Nasir complaint tablets

Haunted Table's Discord

SCP RPG - (Wasn't 5e based, my bad!)

Control by Remedy Entertainment Wiki

Esoterrorists

Liminal Horror

Blackwater D&D Twitch page

The Sorcerers Crusade⁠ takes place during the opening shots of the Ascension War but what came before? ⁠ Dark Ages: Mage ⁠ takes place in 1230s Europe. Adam and Terry talk ⁠Fellowships⁠, ⁠Pillars⁠, and a very strange Umbra.

Show Notes

• ⁠Dark Ages: Mage⁠ - This book
• Dark Ages: Mage Grimoire⁠ - Next book
• Conversation with Stephen Michael DiPesa on writing Dark Ages: Mage⁠
• ⁠The Portable Medieval Reader⁠
• ⁠Amulets and Superstitions⁠ on Amazon
• Amulets and Superstitions⁠ on Abebooks
• ⁠The Canterbury Tales⁠

Mage lists legion inspirations; what are they are what do they inform our games? First Edition core even says, “But for pure ‘manliness,’ you can’t beat Kid Eternity.” Pook and Adam see what Kid Eternity offers us.

Show Notes

• Buy the Kid Eternity Deluxe Edition on Amazon⁠
• Kid Eternity Wikipedia entry
• Kid Eternity⁠ in the DC wiki

We've finished talking Sorcerers Crusade books but how do you actually run it? Seasoned Storyteller Victor Kinzer walks through his SC chronicle and the choices he made in running the game.

Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics - school of mathematics and astronomy founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama in Tirur, Malappuram, Kerala, India

Tantrasamgraha - a major treatise of the era also available here

M20 Victorian Mage - Victorian Mage core rulebook

Victor Kinzer⁠ - Victor on Twitter

The horrors of the World of Darkness are generally hidden but what if that weren't an option? Christopher Neglein joins to talk about The Mystery Flesh Pit National Park RPG and how to blend the cosmic with the bureaucratic.

Mystery Flesh Pit National Park RPG Kickstarter

The Mystery Flesh Pit blog

NPS Rawlinson and Frutiger Fonts

Esper Genesis RPG

Action Park

The Laundry Files

Delta Green RPG

Defunctland Youtube channel

The Esoterrorists RPG

Ganza Gaming Patreon

Ganza Gaming blog

What is the state of the children of the wyck across a changing Europe? ⁠Witches and Pagans⁠ is the last Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade entry and Adam and Terry talk nature magick, sacrifice, and skyclad mysticks.

Note! This one can get a little explicit.

Witches and Pagans - This book

Dark Ages: Mage - Next book!

William Blake forged a dense cosmology full of spirits, emanations and proto-gods. Steve Dempsey, author of Fearful Symmetries, guides us through Blake's life, mythology, and magic societies that you can drop into your game.

The Dying Earth - The RPG Steve didn't write

Urban Shadows: Dark Streets - Expansion for Urban Shadows

Blood on the Snow - An expansion for Hillfolk

Fearful Symmetries - This book

Bob Schnoblin's Pyramid of Satanic Power - Greatest single page in White Wolf

Night of Enitharmon's Joy - Creepy painting

Ancient of Days - Baller painting

The Folklore Engine generator - What it says on the tin

Shotguns v Cthulhu - Another Steve publication

Fearful Symmetries Actual Play

In this mechanics minisode, Monica Speca, Exalted, Scion, and Trinity Dev joins to help Terry workshop some ways to make magick in Mage a little bit quirkier. Regular episode will be out this Saturday!

Order of Reason posits a bold and inventive direction for treating the pro-Technocracy in the Sorcerers Crusade era. Adam and Terry talk 50 guilds, the labyrinth of the Order and cutting edge kite technology.

⁠Order of Reason⁠ - This book

Witches and Pagans - Next book

How can you quickly establish mood and tone in a world new to the players but familiar to their characters? Victor and Terry talk chronicle and game tenets and how to use them to dial in the game your table wants.

Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition - a game with coterie and character principles

After the War - A game where principles are hit points

Urban Shadows - A game with very clear game tenets

Root - MURDER

The Dark Fantastic often requires not just a steady blade but often a keen wit at court. Adam and Terry talk fencing, Ars Cupiditae, and the hidden machinations of the High Guild and Ksirafai in The Swashbuckler's Handbook.

Swashbucklers Handbook - This book

The Order of Reason - Next book

This week we talk to Charles Siegel about big money Traditions corporations and minor Spheres for Night-Folk allies, Jenna Flohr about running adventures in the Hollow Earth and TL Webb on Mage fiction in North Texas.

Five Room Dungeons - A template for dungeon encounters

Gathering Shadows by TL Webb  

Adventure to Hollow Earth by Jenna Flohr 

Adventure to Hollow Earth Actual Play - On Youtube!

Book of Fragments - Another work on Minor Spheres by Pooka G

Magickal Capital by Charles Siegel

Improved Word Template by Charles Siegel

Foreign Magicks by Charles Siegel

Charles's Patreon

The world of the dark fantastic is another country and Sorcerers Crusade Companion is your guide. Adam and Terry talk the Aztecs, the enchanted dragon islands, culture and the detailed fencing rules you've been craving.

Sorcerers Crusade Companion - This book

Swashbuckler's Handbook - Next book

Paradigm Deep Dive: Jewish Mysticism

Why do some mages chant in Latin or Enochian, while others compose contracts to talk to spirits? Brian Johnson joins to talk about magick and language from demon-trapping incantation bowls to chaos magic's autohypnosis and how to use them in our games.

Brian Johnson's Freelancer Web Page - See what Brian has worked on

Snowcrash - Book by Neal Stephenson

Real World Magic Texts with Brian Johnson - Our previous episode with Brian

Adjudicating Magickal Effects

Outline for this episode - A pretty complete script of what we said

What happened in the world of Mage: The Ascension this year and what is planned for 2023? Terry gives his end of the year thoughts on what Mage: The Podcast has done so far and what we plan to do and why we hope to do it.

What’s the state of Enlightened technology in the 16th century? How do Craftmasons view Artificers? Adam and Terry talk sacred geometry, Ars Preclarus, and SC-era submarines in The Artisans Handbook.

Show Notes

• The Artisans Handbook - This book
• Sorcerers Crusade Companion - Next book
• Book of Days - Changeling book of holidays and events
• Bog Bodies - MOAR MUMMIES
• Paradigms Explored: Fairy-Faith - Another paradigm book!
• Kithbook: Dullahan - Book on headless horsefolk
• Magickal Capital - Mage corporations

The Mythos crawls with cosmic horrors but what of the smaller ones? Can we add the Yithians or Shuggoths to the World of Darkness? Bryce and Terry talk Bokrug, Mi-Go and Deep Ones and how to add them to your games.

Dark Days Radio - Bryce's other podcast

Monster Man Podcast 

Michael Shea

The Egg by Andy Weir 

S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands

S. Petersen's Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors

Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters: A Field Observer's Handbook of Preternatural Entities

Lovecraft wiki

Delta Green, Agent's Handbook

Esoterrorists 2nd Edition

McSweeney's Olive Garden Menu 

Werewolves have caerns, vampires have havens, what do magi have in the Renaissance? Adam and Terry talk Order strongholds, Doissetep, Horizon, and strange other places in Tomes of Magick: Castles and Covenants.

Castles and Covenants - This book

Trilemma Adventure Maps - Detailed period maps

How have Bygones changed across editions, where do they come from, and how can we use them in our games? Josh and Terry talk theories, dealing with Paradox, how to make your own, and a hearty helping of plot hooks.

Show Notes

• Myths and Legends of Our Land - Book of NA folk lore
• Esoterrorists - Gumshoe game on the odd things that can sneak through reality
• Book of Unremitting Horrors - Esoterrorist monsters
• Magimundi Bestiary 5th Edition (5e) - Folklore inspired monsters
• Gods and Monsters -M20 book of building your own monster
• Tomes of Magick: M20 Gods and Monsters - Our review of Gods and Monsters
• Bygone Bestiary - Book of Bygones for World of Darkness

Technomancers have a strange relationship with paradox, so what of their tech is likely near and what's far off? Dr. Steven Novella, author of The Skeptics' Guide to the Future discusses telepathy, AI experts, and pet chupacabras.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Future - The book this conversation is based on

Skeptics' Guide to the Universe Podcast

2d20 Fallout - Modiphius's licensed Fallout RPG

Genesys Star Wars - Fantasy Flight RPG

Time perception as we fall experiment

The Renaissance world crawls towards the light of enlightenment but shadows lurk with infernalists, demons, and horrors. Adam and Terry talk the Absolute, Aesfotedia, and Ahrimanites in Infernalism: The Path of Screams.

Infernalism: The Path of Screams - This book
Castles and Covenants - Next book
M20 The Book of the Fallen - A large contemporary version
The Garden of Adompha - Story by Clark Ashton Smith

World of Darkness has varied views on the divine while In Nomine is clear: A distant god and a bitter lucifer brood while their angels and demons pursue their agendas. Griffin and Terry discuss how to jam that into Mage.

In Nomine - Core Rulebook

The Story Told - Podcast where Griffin runs the Promethean actual play

Promethean MtP Episode - Also with Griffin!

Demon the Descent

Demon the Descent Quickstart

Demon the Fallen Core

The World of Darkness has mere than mere vampires and werewolves in the shadows. Bygone Bestiary describes the dragons, unicorns, firebirds, and stranger creatures in it and Adam and Terry talk the hits and misses.

Bygone Bestiary - This book

M20 Gods & Monster - Another big book of beasties

Infernalism: The Path of Screams - Next book!

Tarot, Ouija, runes, and trances receive heavy play in RPGs but what about using lightning, fire, coffee grinds and roosters? David Whitworth author of Eye to the Void joins to talk historical divination in RPGs.

Eye to the Void Kickstarter - Where you can get it

Drunken Storyteller Podcast - David's podcast!

Ouija and Japan's Satanic Panic - Episode on Ouija's Japanese analog

Halloween Episode: Kokkuri Spirit Boards and WTF?!  - Another show it

Thoth tarot - Tarot variant informed by Uncle Ali

Paradigm Shift - Introductory game on the God Machine

Wikipedia page on divination

Darker Days Radio -Show where David is a periodic guest

https://thedrunkenstoryteller.podbean.com/

Can we use clocks to track finding a True Name? What if the Technocracy used Heat? Can we come up with good systems to represent flashbacks using Spheres? Charles and Terry talk systems to steal from Blades in the Dark.

Blades in the Dark SRD - The Blades rules online for free

Magickal Capital - High Resource firms for Mages

Blades on DRTRG - The PDF

Scum and Villainy - Sci Fi Forged in the Dark

Various Forged in the Dark games

Blades in the Dark Score generator - Make a score...NOW!

Crusade Lore is full of the bits that didn't fit into Sorcerers Crusade core with information on scourgelings, and town layout. Adam and Terry talk port logistics, gabled hats and war balloons in Tomes of Magick: Crusade Lore.

Crusade Lore - This book

Sorcerers Crusade core - The core book

Bygone Bestiary - Next book

What if the Dreamlands replaced the Maya, Innsmouth had wraiths, and Miskatonic University were the reality bubble of a Marauder? Bryce and Terry talk adding Mythos locations to Mage the Ascension.

No forests on flat earth - it's real weird 

The Lovecraft wiki - Really powered this episode

The Control Wiki - Enter the Oldest House

Pnakotus - Australian city where people write down their memories while cones

Cover image designed by Dorchadas, thanks!

1466 is a world where faith, science, and magick mix together in an uneasy brew. Sorcerers Crusade Core kicks off the first historical period for Mage and Adam and Terry talk balloons, Batini, and battle armor.

Sorcerers Crusade core book - This book

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff - a podcast featuring Ken Hite

What do you ask during chronicle planning? How do you set up for a first or tenth session? Victor and Terry talk how they prepare for a new chronicle as well as what session prep looks like at each stage of a story.

What's a Marauder do with billions in the bank? What's the richest Tradition? Adam and Terry talk the treasures of Doissetep, private towns, nanotech clouds and cold hard cash in M20 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick.

M20 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick - This book

Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick with Lauren Roy - Conversation with the developer and Josh Heath about the book

The Midnight World on DTRGP

The Midnight World on itch.io

Joe Versus the Volcano - Adam movie recommendation #1

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Adam movie recommendation #2

How many successes to lift a monastery? When do you need dots in Medicine to kill someone? Can Spirit 2 just do everything? Charles and Terry talk their methods for determining what a magickal effect needs.

The Nine Spheres - A guide to Spheres on the Storyteller Vault

Sphere clarifications Google Docs - A document that seemingly compiled most of the Sphere stuff from M20

Charles Siegel’s Patreon

The Great Old Ones may sit outside of reality, Horizon, or merely our front doors but how do we use the Cthulhu Mythos in our games? Bryce and Terry talk space gods and investigation systems from Trail of Cthulhu. 

Things mentioned!

• Bubblegumshoe - Teen Detective game
• Night's Black Agents - Jason Bourne vs Dracula
• Cthulhu City - Gumshoe game where you're stuck in a Mythos-riddled city
• Cthulhu Confidential - A one on one gumshoe game
• Esoterrorists - A game of modern supernatural horror
• Guide to the Traditions - Adversarial backgrounds!
• ST Joshi and Robert Price - Lovecraft scholars
• Common Mythos features - Pelgrane Article
• KARTAS make your own entity - The origin of Qotha Nhur’rin
• Red Sign book - Introduces the King in Yellow formally to WoD
• Last Exit by Max Gladstone
• Prior episode on Lovecraft
• Michael Shea - Lovecraft author
• Dark Day Radio - Linktree

How does terranorming work? Why are there so many wormholes in the Antarctic? What's the Enlightenment level of a Brown Paper Bag? Adam and Terry dive into the zany goodness of The Operative's Dossier.

M20 The Operative's Dossier - This book

M20 Technocracy Reloaded - The big volume

Guide to the Technocracy - Previous omnibus book

Charles Siegel walks us through creating linear magic effects for M20 Sorcerer from start to finish. He explains aspects, rituals, dice pools, and complications and what makes Awakened magick different.

M20 Sorcerer - This book

Magickal Capital - Charles book on sources of high resources for Traditionalists

Paths of Power - An STV take on M20 Sorcery

Are the Star Council and Thal'hun still an "it's complicated"? Is there still just one member of the Nephite Priesthood? What affiliations hate vampires? Drew K and Bek join to walk through every affiliation in M20 Sorcerer.

Occultists Anonymous Youtube

yeetinto.space - OA Discord

Bek Andrew Evans other DTRPG products

• M20 Sorcerer - This book
  • Hunters Hunted II - V20 book with True Faith
  • Sorcerer: Paths of Power - STV book by the mechanics developer
  • Project Twilight - Book on Project Twilight
  • Mage Chronicles 2 - Book containing Halls of the Arcanum

Sorcerers boast centuries long lineages and unique abilities while largely avoiding the Ascension War. So how do you play one? Travis Legge joins to talk M20 Sorcerer, the latest addition to the M20 line.

• Books!
  • Welcome to the Rock - Technocracy Jumpstart
  • Scarred Lands - Grittier D&D and Pathfinder setting
  • Odysseys and Overlords - OSR game
  • M20 Sorcerer - This book
  • Hunters Hunted II - V20 book with True Faith
  • Ars Magica 5e - Another big book on magic
  • Sorcerer: Paths of Power - STV book by the mechanics developer
• The LIbrarians - Franchise of artifact seeking historians
• Pyramid of Satanic power
• Sorcerer Lodi

What if Tesla had discovered a way to time travel and this caused Martians to attack? What if Sleepers knew about hyperscience and were split on its use? Kim Godwin joins to discuss using Trinity Continuum: Aether in Mage!

M20 Sorcerer on DriveThruRPG

Aether Kickstarter - Where it's all happening

Festival of the Steel Phallus - Yup, the one we talked about

Kim Godwin on Twitter

Kim Godwin's author webpage

The Technocratic Union started as unabashed antagonists but in M20 are they the heroes? Satyros Phil Brucato, Tyler of Vorpal Tales, and Terry join a panel hosted by Simon of Walking into Shadows on heroism and sacrifice in Mage.

Satyros

Red Shoes - Fiction by Satyros in dead tree and audio

Tyler

Vorpal Tales - Long running AP network with regular Mage games

Simon

Walking into Shadows 9pm ET, 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the Month - M20 explainer show

The Technocracy sometimes seems to be a conspiracy to save and enslave the world, so how's that going? Adam and Terry talk zombie plagues, yet more HIT Mark types, and octopus suits in Tomes of Magick: Technocracy Reloaded.

Technocracy Reloaded - This book

Guide to the Technocracy - Previous big book o' Technocracy

Operative's Dossier - Next book!

What is a soul in M20? How do mysticks see Arcane? Do all technomantic Wonders have batteries? Charles and Terry talk some of the squirrelier questions of the Mage setting and their answers.

How do you play a grog in troupe play or build a Covenant? What would magick look like if it had firm limits and Quiet brought wisdom? Thrice Great joins to talk Ars Magica and what we can take from Mage's cousin.

• Tomes of Magick: Order of Hermes - Episode on the 2e Tradition book
• Tomes of Magick: Tradition Book: Order of Hermes - Episode on Revised Tradition book
• Project Redcap - A large Ars Magica wiki
• Lion Rampant - Early game company that produced Ars Magica
• Atlas Games - Current publisher of Ars Magica
• Order of Hermes Revised - Revised Tradition book on the Order of Hermes
• Songs of Science - Includes 2e Order of Hermes Tradition book
• Ars Magica 5e Core Book - All you need to play Ars or learn about its world
• Most of the books for Ars Magica 5th Edition in digital form

M20 introduces the Crafts coming together to be a new player in the Ascension War. So where did the Crafts come from and how are they organized? Victor and Terry talk how the Disparates may cooperate...and how they don't.

Book of Crafts - 2e book outlining the Crafts

Book of Secrets - M20 book outlining how the Disparates mete out justice

Dragons of the East - Revised book of East Asian Crafts

In M20 Book of the Fallen, the Nephandi receive their most detailed presentation to date. Adam and Terry talk plot options, infernal axes, the Caulborn, shells of creation, and Fallen schemes.

Revised Book of Madness - Previously most detailed presentation

Book of Madness - First detailed presentation

Movies inform much of culture, why shouldn’t they inform our games? How do we use the Kuleshov effect, Formalism, and mise-en-scène at our tables? Yui joins to talk movie terms, ideas, and inspirations that we can use in our Mage games.

Show Notes

• Comrade Yui on Letterboxd
• Comrade Yui on Twitter
• Movies mentioned!
  • What Dreams May Come
  • Assault on Precinct 13
  • Constantine
  • Patlabor 2: The Movie
  • The Art of Self Defense
  • Army of Shadows
  • Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain
  • No Country for Old Men
  • Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • I Heart Huckabees
  • The Last of the Mohicans
  • Stranger than Fiction
  • Grosse Point Blank

Hermetic, Batini, Taftani, and Chorister magick often invokes concepts in Jewish mysticism but what beliefs and practices do they draw from? Charles Siegel talks Jewish mysticism and how to use it in your games.

Books and sources Charles mentioned - The text references wouldn't reasonably fit so they're listed here as part of the show outline

Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah - Wraith book on the Holocaust that's well done

The shadowy upper echelons of the Technocracy have shifted over time but Control is its best known incarnation. Control has been shrouded in secrecy and Victory and Terry walk through its possibilities.

Books!

• Book of Mirrors - 2e walkthrough of Technocracy organization
• Technocracy Assembled Volume 1 - First set of Convention books
• Technocracy Assembled Volume 2 - Second set of Convention books
• Guide to the Technocracy - Biggest walk through prior to M20
• Ascension - Possible interpretation of the Technocracy
• Technocracy Reloaded - M20 update

Gods and Monsters delivers a broad range of characters and creatures from down and out Sleepers to incalculably powerful godforms. Adam and Terry talk Loa, HIT Marks, Talos, and a whole lot of Merits and Flaws.

Mage Chronicles Volume 2 - Book that contains Ascension's Right Hand

M20 Gods & Monsters - This book

Listen to our interview with Satyros Phil Brucato, Hiromi Cota, James Sambrano and Isabella Price about M20 Gods & Monsters

Book of the Fallen - Next book

Different lines produce different cosmic beings so how do we use the lion-faced serpent Ialdabaoth, Gaia, the August Personage of Jade, and the Triat in our games? Josh and Terry talk cosmic beings where they can fit into Mage.

Books referenced:

• Book of Madness - Ialdabaoth!
• Book of the Wyrm - A discussion on the nature of the Triat
• Rage Across the Heavens - A lot on the Werewolf Celestines and Incarnae
• Book of the Weaver - Information on Stasis spirits
• Book of the Wyld - Gorgons!

Opcast - Josh's Trinity podcast

Does Ascension kill you? Do mortal spacecraft enter the Umbra? Are the Spheres real and if not what are the Shard Realms? Charles and Terry talk some of the squirrelier questions of the Mage setting and their answers.

Books mentioned:

Bog Mummies - MORE MUMMIES!

Book of Fragments - Book on Minor Spheres

Imperial Mysteries - Book on Archmastery for Awakening

Convention Book: Void Engineers - Tegmark Lensing!

What goes into a kitting out an actual play? What equipment do you need? How do you balance the books? Patrick McNamara from Dogfood Studios joins to talk Mage of Sail and how to make it as an actual play.

Patrick McNamara on Twitter

Patrick McNamara on Patreon

Patrick McNamara on Twitch

Equipment discussed: 

Shure SM7B - High quality desktop mic

Shure SM58LC - A more manageable XLR

Yeti Blue - A perfectly fine mic

What's a bloc tribunal vs a Wise Heart? Who protects the Yazidi, how does hacking work? Book of Secrets adds as a lot to M20 and Adam and Terry talk secondary abilities, merits and flaws, and Developer Q&A.

This book - Book of Secrets

Next book - Gods and Monsters

Should higher levels cost more? How often should Arete go up? How can I make players drive advancement? Chazz and Terry talk character arcs, arcane beats, milestone XP, free Arete and additions to the MtP drinking game.

Games mentioned:

• Blades in the Dark
• Invisible Sun
• Your Best Game Ever
• Trinity Continuum: Aberrant
• Mage the Ascension
• Apocalypse World

Mages may be unleashed human potential but the Imbued see warlocks who should be leveraged, healed or fought. Ranae joins to talk powers, strange allies, Heralds, killer spoons and Hunter: The Reckoning.

Ranae on Youtube, Twitter, and Discord

• Hunter the Reckoning Core - Where to start
• Hunter: The Spellbound - The Hunter view of Mage
• Hunter: Urban Legends - Weird creatures
• Hunter: Storytellers Handbook - Covers Q&A and some crossover

Seasons 1 and 2 of Supernatural

So what can one dot in a Sphere do, even at low Arete? Quite a lot, turns out. Charles and Terry walk through every 1 dot effect in Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (M20) they could find and how to use them in your Mage game.

• Initiates of the Art - Low Arete guide for Mage (listen to the Initiates of the Art episode)
• The Nine Spheres - A quick reference of Sphere abilities for M20
• How Do You DO That? - M20 ability reference (listen to the I How Do You DO That? episode)

Freeform effects can be a lot and How Do You DO That? provides guidance on Necromancy to Nanobot reconstruction. Adam and Terry talk shapeshifting, storm control, stealth, scrying, and psychic powers. 

How Do You DO That? - This book

Book of Secrets - Next book

Enlightened Grimoire - Just all the Rotes (community content)

Before the Council and the Technocracy formed, the world of Dark Ages Mage was ruled by Fellowships. Who were they and what was their world like in the 13th century? Jacob K from World of Dark Ages joins to explain!

Mage and Dark Ages Books

• Jacob Klunder's canon White Wolf work
• Jacob Klunder's Storyteller Vault content
• Dark Ages Mage Core - The core book explaining most of the Fellowships
• Island of the Dead God - Dark Ages Mage story that works in many fellowships
• Dark Ages Rules - Free rules for Dark Ages
• Gloria Mundi - Inexpensive bundle containing much of Jacob's work
• Dark Myth and Legend - Book of Dark Ages beasts
• Of Northern Twilight - Add Draugar and Jotuns to your game!

Other

• Muktuk Wolfsbreath Hard-Boiled Shaman
• Dr. Jackson Crawford - Norse expert
• The Cadfael Chronicles - Historical murder mystery series
• Lindybeige - History Youtuber
• Tod Cutler - Maker of replica knives
  

How do we go beyond quests given my mentors, pursuit by Technocrats, and missions from Traditions? Josh and Terry talk better plot hooks from the Umbra, Avatar, backgrounds, abilities, and character arcs.

Character arcs: Your Best Game Ever - an alternative to regular XP

With a PDF just shy of 700 pages, Mage 20th Anniversary Edition Core is around a half million words of Purple Mage goodness. Adam and Terry talk new rules, new themes, new history and how to navigate it.

M20 Core Rulebook - This book

How Do You DO That? - Next book

Adam's notes on The Classic of Mountains & Seas (old Chinese book)

Adam's M20 Core notes

Mages across paradigms harness life and inspiration to create strange servants but sometimes they take on a life of their own. Kim and Griffin join to talk Victorian monsters, alchemical elements, and Promethean the Created.

Opening notes

• The Body Electric on Twitch - The twitch channel for the AP
• The Story Told Podcast - The podcast Griffin is on
• Professional Mage ST - Contact me if you're a professional ST 
• Lore of the Traditions interview on Society of Ether - Elias gets an update

Boooooks

• Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition core - All the lineages in one volume
• Dark Eras book - Books describing various lines at various times
• Dark Eras companion - Yet more periods
• Dark Eras 2 - Yet yet more more periods
• Book of Fragments - Book on Minor Spheres
• Tale-Singers - PWYW Craft book
• Mage Storyteller Handbook - Outlines the Promethean Plague

The Marauders have shifted from Golden Age zealots to the mad mages in on the cosmic joke with shades between. Where have they been and where can they go? Travis Legge shares his thoughts on using and updating the Mad.

Books:

• Book of Mirrors - 2e book on Marauders
• Book of Madness: Whispers Within Chaos Without - Original expanded writeup of Marauders
• Book of Madness Revised - Revised book including the best writeup of the Nephandi
• Truth Beyond Paradox - Fiction Compendium containing Travis's work

Travis's Work:

• Weighing the Cost - A Mage story
• Toxic Mutant Zombie Mayhem - For Savage Worlds
• Clanbook: Nahema - Book of a new type of reality-bending vampires

SAMHSA - Part of US Dept of Health and Human Services dealing with substance abuse and mental health

National Institute of Mental Health - A second listing

National Suicide Prevention Healthline - Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255); En español 1-888-628-9454

Crisis Text Line - Text “HELLO” to 741741

Lewy body dementia - Type of progressive dementia from which Robin Williams suffered

Changelings and mages fight to save passion but what about the Lost who return from Faerie changed? Chazz joins to talk courts, contracts, titles, and other things to steal from the Chronicles of Darkness game Changeling the Lost.

Books!

• Changeling the Lost 2e Core book - What you'll need for most of what we talked about
• Dreams and Nightmares - Changeling the Dreaming book on the Dreaming
• Book of Lost Dreams - Changeling the Dreaming book with the lightest of Crossover rules
• Changeling the Lost 1e compilation - All the 1e lost books, it's a lot

Pain in the Dice - Chazz and mine other project
Entitlements Book and Chazz's other community content - A kick ass sword, a sticky monster, some entitlements, and more!
Fall of Jiara - Part of The Story Told, an extended Dragon-blooded AP

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition is here! It’s core rulebook is nearly 700 pages and they haven’t finished reading it yet so Adam and Terry start with the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition Quickstart. Also, Adam and Terry answer listener questions about Revised.

• 1d4Con - A online convention the weekend of March 4-6
• Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition Quickstart - This book
• Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition core - Next!

Victor interviews Terry about getting to write the Celestial Chorus and the Virtual Adepts, and the emotional rollercoaster that is going from fan to fan who got to write canon for Lore of the Traditions.

Lore of the Traditions kickstarter - go back it plz!

Victor's Shadowbound Podcast - Wraith!

Strange Yesterdays - Terry's book on alternatives to the Revised metaplot

Ascension's Landscape - Terry's book of setting considerations

Lore of the Traditions updates the Council Tradition by Tradition. We talk with Rachel Judd about the Verbena, Tyler Middleton about the Order of Hermes, and Theanos Thrax about the Society of Ether.

Lore of the Traditions Kickstarter

Rachel's stuff:

• Rachel's books on DTRPG
• Rachel Judd on Twitter

Tyler's stuff:

• Vorpal Tales' Mage Kult game

Theanos's stuff:

• Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Lore of the Traditions updates the Council Tradition by Tradition. We talk with Hiromi Cota about the Akashayana, Satyros Phil Brucato about the Sahajiya, James Sambrano about the Kah'vadi and Travis Legge about devving it.

Lore of the Traditions Kickstarter

Hiromi's stuff:

• Hiromi’s Amazon Author Page
• Hiromi's webpage

Travis's stuff:

• Travis's Patreon
• Travis's work on Storytellers Vault
• Slarecian Vault for Scarred Lands

Satyros's Stuff:

• Satyros's Patreon
• Valhalla with a Twist of Lethe
• Red Shoes Indiegogo
• War in Heaven

James's Stuff:

• James's Patreon
• Transformers roleplaying game

Eight years after Ascension, convention books NWO, Progenitors, Syndicate, and Void Engineers completed the splatbooks of Revised. Developer Ryan Macklin talks their origins, themes, and Katanas and Trenchcoats.

• Ryan Macklin's webpage
• The Forge archives - a popular 2000s RPG forum
• Fate - Complete system SRD
• Primetime adventures - TV emulation RPG
• Cortex Plus - RPG system powering Smallville
• Dresden files RPG
• Michelson and Morley 
• Mythender
• Katanas and Trenchcoats - An RPG love letter to the 90s

Terror lurks beyond the Gauntlet. Threat Null will co-opt any agent who's been Processed leaving the Void Engineers as earth's sole defense. Adam and Terry talk time travel, guns, spaceships, and guns for spaceships.

Convention Book: Void Engineers - This book

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition Quickstart - Next book

Action Scientist shirt - Enlist today.

Max Tegmark's levels of the multiverse - A theory that posits mathematical objects as quite real.

Usurper of the Sun - Manga Adam mentioned

Mikaela Sims, ST of As Above, So Below shares advice on improving actual plays and hopes for the World of Darkness streaming community then Terry and Josh answer listener questions in a year end Q&A. Onward to 2022!

Mikaela Sims Twitch stream - Where the show is being streamed

As Above, So Below episode 01 - Where it starts

Ko-fi for the Stream - Chip in if you'd like the participants to get scale pay

Books Josh and I mention:

• Chronicle Builder's Guide for Vampire: The Masquerade - Recent book Josh edited
• Strange Yesterdays: Alternatives to the Revised Metaplot - Terry's book on the Revised metaplot
• World of Darkness Central Florida - Recent big book of setting
• First Team Dossier - Run down of teams Pentex uses to do their dirty work
• Kithbook: Ghille Dhu - An entire kithbook for the Ghille Dhu
• Paradigms Explored: Number and Shape - Book on hypermath and Platonism

The Syndicate tried to fund the Union to success but the Financial Crisis crashed the Cash-or-Credit Convention. Adam and Terry talk Primal Utility, the current board, and Technocracy civil war in Convention Book: Syndicate.

Hypereconomics and Primal Utility with Victor Kinzer - Episode talking hypereconomics

Convention Book: Syndicate - This book

Convention Book: Void Engineers - THE LAST ONE

Mage is full of conspiracies but what about hypercompetent assassins for hire? Monica Speca joins to explain how to add assassins and assassin societies to the World of Darkness from Trinity Continuum: Assassin

• Trinity Continuum: Assassin - The book we're talking about
• Trinity Continuum Core - Core book for Trinity Continuum
• Crazy 88 (Youtube Clip) - Killer society from Kill Bill
• Leverage (TV Series) - TV show that inspired flashbacks in a number of games
• The Warriors (Video game based on a movie based on a book based on a poem) - The DJ announces where the Warriors are
• Gunpowder Milkshake (Movie) - One of the inspiring movies
• John Wick (Movie series) - One of the inspiring movies
• Jianghu - Community of martial artists common in wuxia films
• Fallen Tower: Las Vegas - A setting book with weird radios
• Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council - A setting book with a weird figure stirring stuff up

Find Monica on:

• Twitter
• Systematic Understanding of Everything - Exalted podcast
• Bonus Experience - General gaming podcast

The Progenitors grab at a perfect deathless future but with great moral peril. As the Ethics Council replaces the Administration, Adam and Terry talk action scientists and hyperintelligent whales in Convention Book: Progenitors.

If you’re listening to this before December 21st, applications are still open for the Jackalope Live Action Roleplaying event Mage Noir set to happen in Austin, Texas, the weekend of April 2nd. It’s a LARP game set in the 1950s, and I’ll be there as a sage bartender...possibly.

Show Notes

• Apply for Mage Noir Here
• Original Progenitors book
• This book: Convention Book: Progenitors
• Next book: Convention Book: Syndicate

Four guests! Charles Siegel talks about adding sorcerers to M20, the Hermetic Hipster talks new Tradition Backgrounds, TL Webb talks mages in Texas, and Thrice Great introduces a persistent text Mage game you can go join.

Strange Yesterdays - My book on alternatives to the Revised metaplot

Liberation Mush - An online persistent text game you can join

Mush Clients - Software required to play

Liberation Wiki - A great introduction to Mage and the world of the Liberation MUSH 

Hermetic Hipster - Youtube channel explaining Mage

Hermetic Hipster's Guide to the Traditions - Their book adding backgrounds and merits with short fiction

Number and Shape - A Paradigms Explored book on hypermathematics

Sorcerer Paths of Power - Charles's book updating Sorcerer to M20

Cyberfunk  - TL Webb's newest fiction piece

Fireball Run - TL's previous release

Ascension may have come but we have Conventions to update and Convention Book: N.W.O. is the first of the early 2010s books under CCP Games. Adam and Terry talk the Data Sphere, the Greylocke Incident, and ATLAS units for the N.W.O..

Show Notes

• Convention Book: N.W.O. - This book
• Convention Book: Progenitors - Next book

Mage the Ascension contains all sorts of magickal books, but how do magic texts in our world go from unearthed to on a bookshelf? Translator and RPG writer, Brian Johnson talks paradigms, spells, and library adventures.

Brian's freelancer webpage

Forged by Dragon's Fire - Book containing books

Brian's References:

Sophie Page has studied a whole collection of magical texts from the 14th-century library of St. Augustine's abbey, Canterbury; her PhD thesis on the topic is here (access with free registration): https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.340649 see also her published volume, Magic in the Cloister: https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-06033-0.html)

For a humongous and very colorful example of what a real medieval grimoire could look like, see the Summa Sacrae Magicae

Finally, one that we did mention, the Fasciculus Rerum Geomanticarum, at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (some translated excerpts of which I recently published as Necromancy in the Medici Library, available at all good booksellers)

Greek Magical Papyri

Picatrix

Corpus Hermeticum

All things come to an end but Mage and Ascension, the last Mage book for eight years, provides five such endings. Adam and Terry talk the death of Senex, the return of al-Aswad, asteroid impacts and the Zigg'raugglurr.

This book: Ascension

The next book: Convention Book: N.W.O.

World of Darkness: Time of Judgment: The book that provided end time scenarios for the other lines

Note! Our current plan is to read the four Revised Convention books then review Sorcerers Crusade before reading M20

The Rich Bastard's Guide to Magick adds magick for movers and shakers and two of the authors join us! Lauren Roy as developer and Josh Heath as author talk hypercars, Porthos' grimoire and rich-ass Templars.

Get the book

Lauren M Roy's other books

Terry ran a Mage one shot for some players with mostly D20 prior experience. The session highlights the power and morality of what a mage does in the hands of new players.

Mage 1-page per Sphere references by Mark Hope - You likely need to be a member of the FB group to grab them.
The Nine Spheres by Charles Siegel - A more expansive coverage of the Spheres 

Support the show on Patreon 

The Mage: The Ascension Revised take on the Virtual Adepts mixes fashion, modernity, and a bit of 1e kookiness in with the last published Tradition Book. Adam and Terry talk the Turing virus, the Tesla vaccine, and mid-2000s clothing choices.

Show Notes

• This book: Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts
• Next book: Ascension

The Technocracy is a staple of the Mage canon but it brings along with it assumptions on how science works. Victor and Terry discuss Occupy Horizon, crowd effects, and six new technomagick Crafts.

Executive producers! Check the Patreon or the Discord to vote on which group should receive a write up. Poll runs through November 15th.

Shadowbound - Victor's Wraith project

The Verbena Circle introduced in the 90s is now grown and tackles the contemporary problems of some very old practices. Adam and Terry talk deadly healing, the limits of Merlin, and the Paths of the Wyck in Tradition Book: Verbena.

Tradition Book: Verbena - This book

Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts - Next book

Jason Pitre is a writer and developer whose games often focus on beliefs and the fight to change them which really sounds like Mage. Jason is also a big Mage fan and talks how to adapt his work for your table. 

Genesis of Legend Publishing - Jason's firm

RPG Design Panelcast - A podcast Jason rights on game design

M5 Hack - From our Patrick McNamara interview plus what Terry put together.

Jason's Game

• Spark Roleplaying - a game of shifting beliefs
• Spark Roleplaying on DrivethruRPG
• After the War on DrivethruRPG
• After the War in hardcopy on Indie Press Revolution
• Sig: Manual of the Primes on DrivethruRPG

Seeking to reverse the Curse of Caine, vampires say "dare we spit in God's eye?" while mages grab a hose and say "hold my beer". Adam and Terry talk forbidden texts, Cold War Technocracy, and so many NPCs in The Red Sign.

The Red Sign - This book

The Yellow King RPG - A Pelgrane Press book including four time periods

The King in Yellow - The short story collection containing the stories that contains references to the play....the King in Yellow

Chaos magic seeks to boil ritual to its essence and change the world while discarding the baggage of previous movements but how to add it to a Mage game? Yui joins to talk egregores, servitors, sigils, and Speed posters.

Penny Dreadful Mage Novel

Grant Morrison on Sigil Creation - Note, this video starts with him literally screaming

Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic - One of the popular texts on chaos magic. 

Condensed Chaos - Phil Hines' chaos magic book

Yui on Twitter

Tradition Book: Sons of Ether gives a sneak peak of what the end times in the World of Darkness could be but first it shares much more. Adam and Terry talk Ethics Councils, missing archmasters, and some crackpot science.

Next: Tradition Book Verbena

Flash Gordon - On The Planet Mongo - Titan Books

The Shadow Out of Time by HP Lovecraft

Some Thomas Dolby

She Blinded Me With Science

Flying North

I Live In A Suitcase

Windpower

One of Our Submarines

Mage can often provide surreal moments but how do you run a game with the surreal baked in without breaking everything? Chazz and Terry talk surrealism in Mage, references, and things to steal from Invisible Sun. 

• Invisible Sun Preview - A free preview of the game
• Invisible Sun - The whole game
• Itras By - A surreal game in a strange town
• Dreamhounds of Paris - Game of surrealists discovering the dreamlands
• Lacuna - Surrealism  of strange agents fighting things they don't quite understand
• Teratology Preview - Free peek
• Teratology - Monster book for Invisible Sun

Works

• Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening - Dali painting
• The Gone Away World - Nick Harkaway's book about a strange sci fi book
• The Last Days of New Paris - China Miéville book on destructive surrealism
• Cicero - A print Terry finds inspiring
• Afro Surrealism Pinterest
• The Guardian article on modern Afro Surrealism

Artists

• Kay Sage - Surrealist who did haunting studies of depression.
• Alberto Giacometti - Surrealist sculpter
• Leonora Carrington - Long-lived vibrant Surrealist
• Yves Tenguey
• Max Ernst

Other

• Private Language/Beetle in a box
• Surrealist game book 
• Exquisite corpse examples

Chazz's Stuff

Systematic Understanding of Everything - Exalted explainer

The Fall of Jiara - Chazz's actual play

Wonders trace back to 1e but in Forged by Dragon's Fire they are completely fleshed out. Adam and Terry talk Wonders Artifacts, Inventions, Talismans, Devices, Periapts, Matrices, Fetishes, Grimoires, Principiae, and Familiars.

Books

• Technomancer's Toybox - 2e Technomancer book
• Mage Storytellers Companion - Previous book on new Wonders
• M20 Gods and Monsters - Big book of familiars
• Forged by Dragon's Fire - This book
• Tradition Book: Sons of Ether - Next book

Patrick McNamara ran a Mage hack based on Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition for Club Penny Arcade and shares his tweaks, hacks, ideas, and what it's like running Mage the Ascension for one of the most widely known groups in tabletop play.

Key Books:

• Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition - Foundation of the system
• Mage the Awakening 2nd edition - Foundation for Reach used to determine Paradox dice
• M20 Quickstart - a pretty good run-down of the M20 rules

Animal House Podcast

Animal House Video

Animal House Rules Quick Reference (Must be Club PA member on Patreon)

Patrick McNamara Twitch

Adam Neely's 24 Hour Album project

The Order has lost Doissetep, waged a questionable war against vampires and lost many masters but the Hermetics are far from defeated. Adam and Terry talk new houses, new praxes, new rotes, and new chantries in Tradition Book: Order of Hermes.

Things mentioned!

• Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica - Rare book library
• The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast - A podcast that covers much of the corpus hermeticum
• Embassy of the Mind - Hermetic documents

Books!

• Tradition Book: Order of Hermes - This book
• Forged by Dragon's Fire - Next book

Sleepers wildly outnumber the Awakened but a few know something about the supernatural and use it to their own ends. Josh and Terry talk the Orpheus Group, Pentex, the NSA, and the Arcanum, what they know, and how to use them.

Sources:

Pentex

• W20 Book of the Wyrm
• W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook
• Subsidiaries: A Guide to Pentex

Arcanum

• Mage Chronicles 2 - Includes both Halls of the Arcanum and Ascension's Right Hand
• Halls of the Arcanum 

The Orpheus Group

• Orpheus: End Game - Lots of info on Grandmother and some previously unanswered questions
• Orpheus Core
• Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition - Also contains a condensed but complete version of Orpheus without the Grandmother metaplot

Government Groups

• Project Twilight - Contains Bob Schnoblin's Pyramid of Satanic Power
• V20 The Hunters Hunted II - a massive update to mortal groups and mortal-ish groups

Bob Schnoblin's Pyramid

Music: Ukulele - Bensound https://www.bensound.comSupport by RFM - NCM: https://bit.ly/2xGHypM

The Umbra contains mysteries and wonders enticing to mages seeking wisdom and power. But how to navigate the Otherworlds and secure their boons? Infinite Tapestry answers this in spades and Adam and Terry talk patrons, realms and planets.

Books mentioned:

Infinite Tapestry - This book

Beyond the Barriers: The Book of Worlds - Previous Umbra book for mage

W20 Umbra: The Velvet Shadow - Werewolf book that outlines the Middle Umbra

Mage has many strange places and the Umbra doubly so but how can we use them in games? Charles and Terry talk Autochthonia, The Fortress of Government, The Far Shores, and the Copernicus Research Station

Books mentioned:

Beyond the Barriers, the Book of Worlds - The first book about the Umbra

Infinite Tapestry - Revised book about the Umbra

Dead Magic II tells of magicks rare or hidden but not yet gone, some ignored by the major players, and some that lay in wait. Adam and Terry talk rune magick, the Dreamtime, lightning divination, tikis, and of course the Salmon of Wisdom.

• Dead Magic II: Secrets and Survivors - This book
• Licensed Mage Tarot deck - Reasonably priced version of the Mage tarot for less than the infinity dollars of the 90s one.
• Tarot Art Pack - Just the pictures, free!
• Tarot Sleeves - Sleeves for tarot cards
• Storyteller's Thesaurus - Book listing types and variants of objects.
• Sooth Deck - Divinatory and gameplay aide for Invisible Sun
• Fantod Deck - A gloriously weird pack made by Edward Gorey
• Mage Books
• Dead Magic - The first volume in the series
• Paradigms Explored: Wyrd and Weft - Another view of Norse magick
• Scion Second Edition - Revised version of Scion setting

Mage is a big setting with big questions and M20 provides a set of Future Fates to help a Storyteller build their setting, but how do you use them? Victor and Terry walk through the options presented and share their experience building Mage worlds.

Books discussed:

Ascension's Landscape - Terry's Storyteller Vault title on the topic.

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary - Contains all the Future Fates

With Fallen Tower: Las Vegas, Revised brings the total number of Mage city books....to one! Vegas is a city where money and magick flow freely and  Adam and Terry talk questionable Nodes, neat rotes, and an Awakened mime.

This book - Fallen Tower: Las Vegas

Next book - Dead Magic II: Secrets and Survivors

Above Las Vegas

Support us on Patreon

Kathy Ryan was on the Mage train since almost the beginning and she shares her experiences adding Amanda and Senex, shifting the Marauders and the Nephandi, and some of her notes for what her M20 metaplot would have been.

The Show

Our Patreon!

Rich Bastard's Guide to Magick - Preorder for M20 high power book

Books mentioned

• Book of Worlds - Book where we get information about Amanda's Avatar and the twice-born.
• Swords of Faith - The compilation of the Euthanatoi, Celestial Chorus, and Akashayana of which the first contains much of the Amanda plot
• M20 Core - The big book
• Book of Chantries as part of Mage Chronicles 1 - The big dose of setting that needed to be steered

Other References

• Wolf 359 podcast - Sci fi podcast
• Magnus Archives - Horror podcast
• Cordwainer Smith - Sci fi author
• The War of the Worlds album - Jeff Wayne's reinterpretation of War of the Worlds 

The mysterious Rogue Council calls on mages to again pursue the Ascension War in the face of despair and the Technocracy responds. Adam and Terry talk the Sphinx, Annunaki, and Panopticon in Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council. 

Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council - This book

Fallen Tower: Las Vegas - Our next book

Anders Mage Page Egypt Chronicle - So much sphinx, so so so much sphinx

Greg Stolze, prolific author of RPG books for Hunter, Demon, A Dirty World, and Mage fan favorite, Unknown Armies, talks Invisible Clergy, obsession fueling magic, writing game fiction, how he'd write WoD angels and crowdfunding projects.

New Stories of Unknown Armies Indiegogo - The project discussed at the end

Greg's Projects

• Greg on Twitter
• Greg's web page
• Free fiction
• Unknown Armies Book 1: Play - Core book to play the game, player's guide and rules
• Unknown Armies Book 2: Run - GM guide
• Unknown Armies Book 3: Reveal - More weird, great inspiration
• A Dirty World - A Noir game of hard choices

How do you run a game without Paradox? How about during a game where the Roman empire never fell? What if the Ministry of Swords still existed? Adam and Terry talk the Mage Storytellers Handbook and what you can take to your table.

Mage Storytellers Handbook - This book

Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council - Next book

B Dave Walters talks the Technocracy in 2021, Cassandra Complex, Friends of Courage and introducing players to Mage and Tanya DePass talks the Into the Mother Lands afrofuturist setting and game design in a multitopic episode. 

Into the Mother Lands Kickstarter

Technocracy Reloaded Pre-order - Still get it on release day! 

Tanya's other projects

Dear America From a Black Guy - B Dave Walter's current documentary project

Other Participants
Vanessa “PleasantlyTwstd” B. - Lead artist @PleasantlyTwstd –Twitter / Twitch / Instagram

Gabe Hicks - Developer @GabeJamesGames –Twitter/Twitch/Instagram

Jasmine Bhullar - Developer @ThatBronzeGirl –Twitch/Twitter/Instagram

Sharang Biswas - Contributor @sharangbiswas – Twitter/Portfolio

LaTia Jacquise - Contributor @LaTiaJacquise –Twitter/Twitch/Instagram

Rest of the team

So far, the Hollowers were presented as American, urban, and gothic in and now with their own Tradition Book new light shines on their varied ways. Adam and Terry talk elemental cliques, oneiromancy, and wraiths in Tradition Book: Hollow Ones.

Books!

• Tradition Book: Hollow Ones - This books!
• Outcasts: A Players Guide to Pariahs - Closest previous book
• Orphans Survival Guide - Urban and orphan guide book for Mage

History teems with strange events and stranger claims that beg to be added to our Mage games, but how? Luckily, Darker Days Radio does regular segments on it! Chris and Terry talk the Pope Lick Monster, the Dyatlov Pass incident and more.

Darker Days Radio

Gehenna Gaming schedule

Warhammer Fantasy Youtube series

The Secret Frequency Files bundle on DTRPG

Children of the Blood - VtM book Chris worked on

Age of Sigmar - Warhammer Fantasy book

Cubicle Seven - Publisher of Warhammer Fantasy

The Euthanatoi draw from those who do the work others won't, and now that includes purging the Ksirafai and possibly cleansing reality. Adam and Terry talk Senex, necromancy, and the Good Death.

Books! 

• Tradition Book: Euthanatos - This book
• Guide to the Traditions - A more expansive view of the Traditions and their groups
• Swords of Faith - Book containing original 2e Euthanatos book

Before you convince someone to play 30 session of Mage, maybe show them one? Josh and Terry give their recommendations on running a Mage one-shot. Also, an interview with STV fiction author, Lee Webb about their Etherite short fiction Dead Reckoning.

TryItCon Event Schedule - Come play a thing! Weekend of May 14-16th

Other books:

Another STV short fiction collection: Darkened Streets

Dead Reckoning - Etherite short story

Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council - It's got a short adventure in it!

The Nine Spheres - A quick reference to the Spheres

Many counted the Kha'vadi out after the Avatar Storm but such claims were premature. Adam and Terry talk new sorcerous paths, spirits on the mundane side of the Gauntlet, and a bigger Tradition in Tradition Book: Dreamspeakers. 

Related Books:

• Tradition Book: Dreamspeakers - This book
• Spirit Ways - book on shamanic variants

Related episode: Paradigm Deep Dive: Indigenous Magick

Next up: Tradition Book: Euthanatos

Games are often set in the places we know by adding a layer of magick or horror, but how do you do that? Griffin from The Story Told and Terry talk about how they Mage-ify their hometown, Philadelphia, and how to make any major city magickal.

References:

• Atlas Obscura
• SS United States Plans
• Figure-Ground Diagram

TryItCon 2021 

• Get a badge: https://tabletop.events/conventions/tryitcon-2021/badgetypes/attendee97
• Play a game: https://tabletop.events/conventions/tryitcon-2021/schedule#?query=
• Submit an event: https://tabletop.events/conventions/tryitcon-2021/submit-events

The Clockwork Convention has been cut off from Autochthonia and many of its cyborg minions have gained terrifying freedom. Adam and Terry talk new HIT Marks, the Cult of the Machine,  and Alanson hardsuits in Convention Book: Iteration X.

Books references:

• Convention Book: Iteration X - This book
• Iteration X - The previous version 
• Guide to the Technocracy - Essential reading to run Technocrats-as-protagonists

Next Book: Tradition Book: Dreamspeakers

Let's steal from Powered by the Apocalypse! Mark Diaz Truman is the CEO of Magpie Games and World of Darkness fan. He an author of Urban Shadows, a PBtA urban fantasy game and shares what WoD players can take back to one of the games that inspired it.

Magpie's Curated Play program - Try a game with a two-shot!

Urban Shadows 2e kickstarter - Grab it during the late pledge period.

Urban Shadows 2e quickstart - 26 pages which are enough to start playing. 

Urban Shadows 1e - The first edition

The Ecstatics find liberation and possibly Ascension through potent sensory experiences in both agony and ecstasy so how have they met modernity? Adam and Terry talk a plethora of new groups, expanded history, and very practical magick in Tradition Book: Cult of Ecstasy.

Next book: Convention Book: Iteration X

The mechanics for raising Arete are easy, but how do you play out a Seeking where a mage may make a self discovery or learn about the fundament of the cosmos? Josh and Terry share how Seekings changed across editions and some ways you can run them.

Dusk Wiki - Large wiki with house rules on Seekings

TryItCon Links:

If you have a game you’d like to try, ask for it: https://forms.gle/mt5eY3QRQhY3WXD26

If you’d like to help storytell/guide for the bonanza, ST applications are here: https://forms.gle/URAagdGn7rnaufgr6

References: 

Mage Style Guide - Comparison of Mage across Editions

Mage Made Easy - STV supplement with recommendations on Seekings

Book of Shadows - 1e book including Seekings advice

Mage the Ascension 1e - The book that started it all where Seekings are external and given by the Avatar

In a world going mad how do the Marauders manifest? How have the Nephandi cope with the Avatar Storm? How do I barter my (character's) soul? Adam and Terry talk the dark whisperers in the Ascension War in Book of Madness Revised. 

This book: Book of Madness Revised

Next book: Tradition Book: Cult of Ecstasy 

Previous Book of Madness 

Book of the Fallen - 20th anniversary update to the Nephandi

Three different interviews with three different liveplays! Terrifying Tales nods to Kult, Ombligo Del Diablo is an M5 hack in a strange Southwest, and Technogate explores the 90s, one Umbral Realm at a time and what 2d10 and Guldan Age Stories are up to.

Terrifying Tales - A run of Mage with hints of Kult added for good measure run by Vorpal Tales.

Technogate 1999 - Exploring the goings on an Umbra-hopping Amalgam by Guldan Age Stories.

Ombligo Del Diablo - Adventures in an eerie Southwest by the Odd Troupe.

Crossing Darkness - An old World of Darkness informational podcast about the full breadth of oWoD gaming

2D10 Podcast - A broad gaming podcast by Nate of Utility Muffin Labs

Other links!

Victorian Mage Indiegogo - For each person who comments that I should write on the Victorian Umbra, I'll add 250 words to an STV supplement on the Victorian Umbra. (Min 5k, max 20k)

Sorcerer: Paths to Power - Sorcerer updated to M20

Tradition Rotes Project

Guide to the Traditions lifts the curtain on the thousand ways the Traditions work with and against each other. Adam and Terry talk high-ritual shamans, hidden Cathars, Asthika technomancers and stranger magicks in this broad look at the 21st century Council.

Books:

Guide to the Traditions - the one we're talking about

The Bitter Road - Another big book of group and plot options

Book of Madness (Revised) - Next up!

The 19th century saw the West push to conquer the world but what were mages up to? The Technocracy rises, the American frontier closes and dozens of societies resist colonialism in Onyx Path's newest crowdfunding campaign, M20 Victorian Age now on Indiegogo.

The crowdfunding campaign for Victorian Age Mage

Victor Kinzer on Walking Away from Arcadia

Technocracy history

Books references: 

Guide to the Technocracy - Technocratic History

Mage Storyteller's Companion - Giant timeline

Victorian Age Vampire - The first VIctorian age book

W20 Wyld West Expansion - Update to the Wyld West setting for werewolf

This minisode is with Max from Saga Experience which is trying to create a new type of virtual tabletop with a kind of built in game engine. We talk about our favorite numbers, virtual tabletops, and outcome distributions. Regular episode will be out Saturday!

Saga Experience - Their webpage

Saga Experience Discord - Talk to 'em! Tell them you want a freeform magick system. :3

Saga Experience Youtube - See it in action

What does faith look like as the End Times approach? What is the role of shepherds when monsters walk the earth? Adam and Terry talk how the Chorus as broadened even as theology seemingly declines in Tradition Book: Celestial Chorus.

Next up: Guide to the Traditions

Our discussion of the previous Celestial Chorus book

Swords of Faith which includes the prior Tradition Book and two others

Tradition Book: Celestial Chorus on Drivethrurpg

Mage is a game suited for many genres from pensive journey to space opera but the rules don't always give us fast-paced action. Bryce Perry of Darker Days Radio talks with Terry about things to steal from games like Torg and how to speed up combat.

Games to steal from:

• Torg - Game geared towards action and adventure with group leveling and dramatic build-up system.
• Unknown Armies - Urban fantasy game where broken people save the world. 
• Blades in the Dark - The best game
• Ars Magica - For when the Order of Hermes isn't enough and you want all the hermetics.

Our episode on Tales of Magick: Dark Adventure

Darker Days Radio mailing list

In the 21st century, the Ahl-i-Batin quietly invoke the Khwaja al-Akbar while the Taftâni fight druj and pursue Asha with explosive ferocity. Adam and Terry talk math, carpets, figs and other goodies from Lost Paths: Ahl-i-Batin & Taftâni.

Show Notes

• More information on the Entelechy in Ascension
• Previous information on the Ahl-i-Batini in Book of Shadows

The Traditions claim to represent all of mystick magick but may were left out of the Grand Convocation. So what is a Tradition and what makes them special? Victor and Terry talk Traditions over time, areas to explore, and how to build your own. 

The Hermit Hipster's Patreon

Video on Tradition Book

Garou Nation - Werewolf explainer by the team of Juarez by Night

Books mentioned:

• Guide to the Traditions - Revised guide to mystick politics
• Lost Paths: Ahl-I-Batin and Taftani - Two groups that maybe could be Traditions
• Dark Ages Mage - Game that uses Fellowships instead
• The Fragile Path - Book on the founding and betrayal of the First Cabal
• Book of Crafts - Book of well, Crafts

No longer lead by monastic ascetics the Akashayana are ready to bury old ways but can they hold together long enough to change? Adam and Terry talk new sects, new rotes, new wonders and a whole lot of Do in Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood.

This book: Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood on Drivethrurpg
Next book: Lost Paths: Ahl-I-Batin and Taftani on Drivethrurpg

Fist of the North Star
Theravada - Type of Buddhism discussed largely in this book.
Mahayana - More popular branch of Buddhism

The world of Mage is teeming with strange creatures so why not add dragons? Scion: Dragon explores the powers and agendas of the mythic creatures and their heirs and developer Danielle Lauzon shares how dragons can go in your Mage game.

The Kickstarter campaign!

Scion core books:

Scion: Origins - Book outlining starting Scions and the storypath system 

Scion: Hero - Book on more powerful Scions 

Danielle's author page

Danielle's Twitter account

The grip of Paradox has tightened but sorcerers, psychics, extraordinary citizens, and practitioners of limited or codified magick are unhindered. So what are they up to? Adam and Terry talk new groups, new paths, new systems, and PSYCHIC POWERS in Sorcerer Revised.

Next Book: Lost Paths: Ahl-i-Batini and Taftani

World of Darkness: Sorcerer - Prior Sorcerer book which was less free-form and overall smaller
Prior Episode on Sorcerer
Hunters Hunted II - Another book on antagonists including some magickal and semi-magickal societies as well as numina.

True Faith was not in this book but it's expanded in Tradition Book: Celestial Chorus 

What games did you play in 2020, and more importantly, what hacks, mechanics, settings, and ideas can we take from them to bring into Mage? Mike from Darker Days Radio talks Sanity from Call of Cthulhu, quick stats from the Pip system, focus from Soulbound, and more as we review the games we played in 2020.

Games mentioned

• Wrath and Glory - The story of eight systems cut off from the rest of the Warhammer world
• Pip system - A simple stat system that's kid-friendly
• Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition - Recent edition of one of the oldest RPGs
• Tomb of Dreams - Exalted 3e quickstart game
• Soulbound - Another Warhammer game which is where the Focus discussion comes from 
• Mork Borg - Black metal d20 RPG
• Genesys generic system - Fantasy Flight's house system where each die roll tells a story
• Revised Mage Quickstart - Simplified version of Mage Revised

Podcasts mentioned

• The Story Told - Generic RPG podcast which also does a recurring Exalted liveplay
• Gehenna Gaming - Horror gaming rpg group
• Darker Days Radio - Horror RPG podcast
• Systematic Understanding of Everything - An Exalted explainer podcast

A bonus episode to go with our episode on Dragons of the East.  

Adam Simpson offers some ideas for bringing East Asia into your Mage Chronicles.

Seven Branch Sword

• https://michael-chen-mg2n.squarespace.com/news/2017/10/12/legendary-7-branched-sword-of-japan
• https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/seven-branched-sword-mystical-ceremonial-sword-japan-003185
• http://nihonshoki.wikidot.com/scroll-9-jingu (look for Death of the King of Baekje)

Books

• Religion in Contemporary Japan by Ian Reader. University of Hawaii Press 1991
• Japanese Religions Past & Present by Ian Reader, Esben Andreasen & Finn Stefansson. University of Hawaii Press 1993
• Ninja Attack! by Hiroko Yoda & Matt Alt. Kodansha International 2010
• True Path of the Ninja by Antony Cummins & Yoshie Minami. Tuttle Publishing 2011
• Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. Kodansha International 1967 (1992)
• Yokai Attack! by Hiroko Yoda & Matt Alt. Tuttle Publishing 2008
• Kojiki by Donald L. Philippi (translator). University of Tokyo Press 1968
• The Classic of Mountains and Seas by Anne Birrell (translator). Penguin Classics 1999
• The Journey to the West by Anthony C. Yu (translator). University of Chicago Press 1977

Dragons of the East vastly expands Mage Revised’s territory by outlining the Awakened world in large parts of East Asia. Adam and Terry review the major points like the mysterious new groups ranging across Mongolia’s steppes to the dense forests of Vietnam and an ancient conspiracy of the Dalou’laoshi that lurks in the edge of the Technocracy....maybe.

Show Notes

• This book: Dragons of the East
• Next book: Sorcerer Revised

Notes

• Book of Crafts episode
• Midnight Express Episode on the Wu-Keng
• Ailon Rouge's Chantry Project

For over twelves centuries the Order of Hermes has pushed will as the key of magick, where do they stand in the 21st century? Stephen Michael DiPesa authored Tradition Book: Order of Hermes and Blood Treachery and shares where he thinks the Hermetics would be today.

Stephen's written for a number of other games and White Wolf lines and shares his experiences as an RPG writer.

WoD Books:

• Blood Treachery - Revised book outlining the Wizards March declared against Clan Tremere
• Tradition Book: Order of Hermes - Revised Tradition Book
• Infinite Tapestry - Revised book on the Umbra
• Mage Storytellers Handbook - Handbook outlining a dozen dozen directions to take a Mage game
• Ascension - The last book of Revised
• Mage the Awakening: Second Edition

The Order of Hermes is cut off from the Horizon Realms that form the basis of its power and struggling to find its footing after realizing they can no longer destroy the Technocracy. What's a Tradition to do? Decvlare war on the Tremere to try and get their stuff back! Blood Treachery advances the Revised metaplot with a bang weaving a tale of magick, blood, hubris, and guncotton in an exploration of what the Order has become but might yet be.  Adam and Terry walk through what's changed from the Hermetic magick that makes your blood explosive to the new Astral Courts and the revelations as to the true reason Mistridge fell.

This book: Blood Treachery

Next book: Dragons of the East

Others references:

• House of Tremere - Information the historical Tremere
• Clanbook: Tremere - Revised book outlining the hierarchy
• Tradition Book: Order of Hermes - Revised book on the Tradition written in the wake of the Wizards March.

JFK was just been inaugurated as president, Patrice Lumumba is assassinated the Berlin Wall is built, Elvis returns, Motown is founded, and the Cold War is in full-swing but what's going on in the Awakened world? Mage Developer Satyros Phil Brucato walks through ideas in using the 1960s as a chronicle setting, how it's informed by what came before, and how it sets the stage for our modern Ascension War.

References:

• The Avengers - British espionage TV show
• Get Smart - American spy parody
• James Bond - British secret agent movie series based on books by Ian Flemming
• Gojira - 1954 kaiju film introducing Godzilla 
• The Warmth of Other Suns - Book about the internal Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson 
• Sun Ra - American composer and experimental musician with a cosmic philosophy
• Parliament-Funkadelic - American funk collective headed by George Clinton
• Baader-Meinhof Group - Far left German militant organization about which numerous films were made
• Velvet Underground - American rock band headed by Lou Reed
• The Drowned World - J.G. Ballard book set in an earth rendered largely uninhabitable
• Slaughterhouse-Five - Book by Kurt Vonnegut
• Music: A Subversive History - 2019 book on the cultural importance of music
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Tarantino film set in 1969 LA
• The Prisoner - British avante garde science fiction film
• The Doors (movie) - Film about the music group the Doors through the 60s and 70s
• Malcolm X (movie) - Documentary based on Malcolm X's autobiography
• Standing in the Shadows of Motown - Documentary on the story of the Funk Brothers

Satyros

• Valhalla with a Twist of Lethe - Satyros' book of short fiction
• Satyros Patreon 
• Mage Made Easy - Satyros' guide to simplifying M20

With the master's gone, how is an Adept to achieve Mastery? By learning the secrets of the ancients through a mix of cultural outreach and maybe a little grave-robbing.  Dead Magic explores the magic of the cradle of humanity, the ruins of Babylon, the forbidding tracts of North American of Arctic, and the visceral practices of Greece. Adam and Terry tour through the ruins of past magick and give recommendations on how to bring the contents into your game. Warning! This is a Black Dog Game Factory supplement and is a bit more gorey and bad-touchy than most Mage books.

This book: Dead Magic

Next book: Blood Treachery

Rework of Giant’s Playground by Adam

Shaping up the Giant’s Playground should remain within Revised Edition’s parameters of keeping things on Earth so no portals to the Umbra or Horizon Realms.  Making it mystically interesting goes against Revised Edition’s rich character development but I swear I’m going to print some T shirts with the message “Rage Against the Rich Character Development”.  Yes, this is a reference to page 81 of The Bitter Road.

The Giant’s Playground is a popular destination for visitors to Namibia although very few suspect its true significance.  Mages who venture beyond the most popular rock formations and explore the interior will eventually reach a point where their mystic senses are aroused (Awareness + Perception or Wits, diff 6).  Those who score 3 or more successes get a sense that space is stretched and wound differently than normal.  Those with less successes get a feeling the place is special somehow and are free to try their first level Sphere senses.  Those who botch become convinced someone has set a trap for the Awakened and will want to leave.

The first level of Correspondence is enough to let mages perceive an entrance to the Playground’s true interior.  The first level of Spirit should also be enough to let a mage open their senses to the spirits of the land who will guide the mage to the entrance.  Once inside the true Giant’s Playground the visitors disappear from the view of aerial observers and Sleepers.  The old, squarish rocks loom higher and closer as the visitors walk and form a labyrinth.  Visitors will need an excellent sense of direction or the favor of the local rock spirits to find their way out safely.  Correspondence magic is more difficult to use here, as if normal notions of space, volume and distance don’t apply.