Mage: The Ascension Discussion Thread

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Considering this is a roleplaying forum, among other things, I was thinking we could have a thread discussing one of my favorite PnP games, Mage: The Ascension.

Basically, Mage (for those of you who don't know) is a game about reality on the brink, in which individuals called Mages have gained a sudden satori or insight into how reality really works, and are able to manipulate it as a result. This Satori, at least at first, is tied up in a mage's beliefs or his "special interests". This is called Paradigm, and describes your character's view of the world and why he's able to do the things he can. However, some Mages try and do too much, and are struck with Paradox as a result. I could continue, but you can download the game at rpg.drivethrustuff.com for a few bucks or fire up your filesharing programs and nab it, as it's out of print, along with the rest of the Old World of Darkness game lines.

Hmm, I've never played either, but the newer Mage the Awakening looks more interesting. All my experiences with oWoD have been unpleasant - people say be creative then go on and on about not breaking canon every time I think outside the box, and then get pissed when I spend too much time learning canon so I don't break it, because I'm "ruining the mystery ". Maybe it's just because I had a bad group, but it felt like playing in a freaking straight-jacket.

Of course, my most favourite WoD game is Changeling the Lost . Haven't actually gotten to play it to much, but the setting just seems beyond awesome. So very, very crazy

I in particular dislike the new mage - I think Consensual Reality was part of what mage mage and not wizard: the occultining. Paradigm I have mixed feelings on, but I'm not a big fan of Symbolism which seems to be a big part of the new game. Atlantis I can live with, but it seems to me to be overused.

Also, how can you call it mage and not have a Technocracy?